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POLITICAL  PROBLEMS 


jessaK^s  on  (Questions  of  tbc  Da^ 


BY 


LYMAN  ALLEN,  H.  D. 

Author  of  "Fruit  Growing  in  Southern  California"  in  "A  Southern 
California  Paradise"  etc. 


SAN  FRANCISCO 

CALIFORNIAN  PUBLISHING  CO. 
1892 


-'$ 


Copyright,  1893 
By  LVMaN  aLLKN,  M.  D. 


FROM  THE  PRESS  OF 

THE  SAN  FRANCISCO  PRINTING  CO. 

411    MARKET  ST.,  S.  F. 


/  OF  THE       ^ 


PREFACE 


There  obtains  in  the  minds  of  a  large  and  increasing 
number  of  .people,  a  conviction  that  we  fall  far  short  of 
living  by  the  full  light  of  modern  knowledge  and  experi- 
ence ;  that  the  masses  of  the  people  do  not  receive  an 
equitable  share  of  the  fruits  of  their  labor,  and  do  not 
enjoy  an  adequate  measure  of  benefit  from  the  cumulated 
results  of  human  labor,  study,  research  and  invention  ; 
that  in  a  land  of  abundant  wealth  and  production  there 
should  not  be  such  want,  such  privation  and  such  neces- 
sity for  unremitting  toil  ;  that  somehow  and  somewhere 
there  must  be  grave  errors  in  our  system  of  society,  in 
our  commercial  life  or  in  our  government,  much  waste 
and  loss  and  injustice,  to  cause  the  wide  difference  in 
condition  between  the  many  who  toil  through  life  for  a 
bare  living,  and  the  few  who  are  possessed  with  abundant 
wealth. 

It  is  a  common  error  with  physicians  to  attribute  a 
patient's  sickness  to  some  one  cause,  and  to  treat  the 
case  accordingly,  when,  perhaps,  there  are  several  causes 
for  his  ailment,  and  it  is  not  unusual  for  some  of  those 
who  seek  to  enlighten  us  upon  the  causes  of  our  financial 

(iii) 


IV  PREFACE 

ills  to  ascribe  them  all  to  some  one  cause,  and  to  propose 
some  one  remedy  as  a  complete  cure  for  poverty  and  for 
all  our  material  disorders. 

It  is  the  purpose  of  this  work  to  consider  the  various 
principal  causes  for  our  financial  ailments  ;  to  show  the 
relative  importance  of  each  ;  to  point  out  the  defects  in 
some  of  the  proposed  remedies  for  these  disorders  ;  and 
to  advocate  such  remedies  as  appear,  in  the  light  of 
reason  or  experience,  to  offer  the  largest  measure  of 
relief  to  the  burdened  industrial  classes. 


LYMAN   ALLEN. 


Pasadena,  California, 

December,  1S92, 


OF  THE 

■DIVERSITY 


CONTENTS 


PART   I 
OBSTACLES,   DIFFICULTIES   AND  DUST  pagr 

CHAPTER  L — Party  Prejudice — Popular  Prejudice 9 

CHAPTER  II.— Political  Ignorance — Defective  Sources  of 

Knowledge ]  2 

CHAPTER  HI.— The   Spoils    System— Saloon   Domination- 
Wrong  Idea  of  Government 19 

PART  II 

A  SEARCH  FOR  CAUSES  OF  POVERTY  AND  THE 
UNEQUAL  DISTRIBUTION   OF  WEALTH 

CHAPTER    IV.— Millionaires 25 

CHAPTER  V.  —  Individual  Habits  and  Characteristics  — 

Natural  Causes  and  Environment — The  Drink  Habit.  38 

CHAPTER  VL— Cost  of  the  Liquor  Traffic 41 

CHAPTER  VII.— Speculation  in  Land— The  Credit  System.  46 

CHAPTER  VIII.— Monopolies  and  Trusts 52 

CHAPTER  IX.— Unwise  Taxation 55 

CHAPTER  X.— The  Tariff— Trust  Tariff— Clog  Tariff  .. .  56 

CHAPTER  XL— The  Tariff  Question  as  a  Supreme  Issue..  02 

PART   III 

REMEDIES    FOR    DEFECTIVE   GOVERNMENT,   FOU 

FAULTY  EDUCATION,  FOR  SOCIAL  EVILS,  FOR 

BURDENS    OF    OPPRESSIVE    MONOPOLIES 

AND  INEQUITABLE  TAXES,  AND  FOR 

UNEQUAL    DISTRIBUTION    AND 

WASTE    OF    WEALTH. 

CHAPTER  XII.— Moral  Training  in  the  Schools 77 

CHAPTER  XIII.— A  Clean  Ballot— Civil  Service  Reform.     86 
CHAPTER  XIV.  —  Equal   Suffrage— Equal  Political  and 

Civil  Rights 90 

CHAPTER  XV.— Objections  to  Woman  Suffrage  Considered.    97 

CHAPTER  XVI. — Prohibition  of  the  Liquor  Traffic 104 

CHAPTER  XVII. — Nationalization  OF  the  Liquor  Traffic  .  113 
CHAPTER  XVIII.— National  Highways,  Railway  and  Tele- 
graph Lines 117 

CHAPTER  XIX.— Methods  of  Constructing  and  Capitalizing 

Railways 122 

Cv) 


VI  CONTENTS  , 

PAGE 

CHAPTER  XX.— Four  Reasons  for  National  Ownership  of 

Railways 125 

CHAPTER  XXI. — Fifteen  Reasons  for  National  Ownership 

OF  Railways 133 

CHAPTER  XXII.  —  Five  Reasons  for  National  Ownership 

OF  Railways 142 

CHAPTER  XXriI.— Mr.  C.  P.  Huntington  on  Railway  Con- 
solidation    149 

CHAPTER  XXIV.— The  Telegraph 153 

CHAPTER  XXV.  —  Objections  to   National  Ownership    of 

Railway  and  Telegraph  Lines  Considered 156 

CHAPTER  XXVI.— The  True  Province  of  Government  — 
Duty  of  the  State — Conservative  Methods  and  Unsafe 
Tendencies 101 

CHAPTER  XXVII.— The  Currency— Evils  of  Our  Financial 

System — Coin  and  Paper  Money — The  National  Banks  .  166 

CHAPTER   XXVIII. — Postal  Savings  Banks — Improvements 

in  Postal  Exchange 172 

CHAPTER  XXIX.— Money  Monopoly— Do  We  need  Fifty 
])ollars  per  Capita?  —  Money  Supply  of  Different 
Nations — Scarcity  of  Money  not  the  Cause  of  the 
Farmers'  Depression 175 

CHAPTER  XXX. — Loans  upon  Lands  and  upon  Farm  Prod- 
ucts— Free  Coinage  of  Silver 181 

CHAPTER  XXXI.— The  Sub-Treasury  Plan— Five  Objec- 
tions set  Forth — Loans  upon  Land  Security 187 

CHAPTER  XXXII.  — Taxation  — Various   Ways  of  Raising 

Revenues — Some  General  Principles  for  Taxation.  ..  192 

CHAPTER  XXXIII.— Necessity  for  an  Income  Tax— Expe- 
rience OF  Other  Countries — Objections  Considered  . . .  200 

CHAPTER  XXXIV.— A  Tax   on  Inheritances— Advantages 

OF  Such  a  Tax 204 

PART   IV 

AFTERMATH— RESULTS  AND  LESSONS  OF  THE  CAM- 
PAIGN OF  1892— THE  POLITICAL  OUTLOOK 

CHAPTER  XXXV. — Some  Questions  Settled — An  Obstacle 

Removed — A  Reform  that  Languishes 211 

CHAPTER  XXXVL— The  Political  Parties— Tftetr  Policy 
IN  THE  Campaign  of  1892 — Republican,  Democratic, 
Prohibition,  Peoples 216 

CHAPTER  XXXVII. — A  New  Political  Party,  Necessity  for 

IT — What  it  should  stand  for — Three  Great  Questions  225 


POLITICAL    PROBLEMS 


PART   I 


OBSTACLES,  DIFFICULTIES,  AND  DUST 


POLITICAL  PROBLEMS 
•f 

CHAPTER  I. 
•f 

PARTY  PREJUDICE— rOPULAR  PREJUDICE 

At  the  outset  of  any  effort  to  reform  our  methods  of 
government  or  to  improve  the  condition  of  the  people,  we 
are  confronted  by  a  mountain  of  party  prejudice.  This 
consists  of — 1,  the  conviction  that  one's  party  contains 
nearly  all  the  good  people,  and  that  the  other  party  is 
largely  composed  of  the  worst  elements  of  society;  2,  that 
upon  the  success  of  one's  party  depends  the  welfare  and 
perpetuity  of  all  good  government;  3,  that  fealty  to  one's 
party,  to  its  every  measure  and  every  candidate,  is  the 
first  duty  of  every  good  citizen,  and  that  one  who  fails 
to  support  his  party  is  a  bolter  and  a  traitor;  4,  that 
loyalty  and  patriotism  mean  subservience  to  party 
dictates;  5,  that  whatever  the  party  papers  and  speakers 
say  mu8t  be  true,  and  goez  ;  6,  that  duty  to  family,  to 
church,  to  society,  to  the  country  are  second  to  duty  to 
party. 

Partisan  prejudice  leads  to  submission  to  "party  tyranny. 
It  becomes  the  whip  and  the  club  by  which  good  men  are 

9 


10  PARTY    PREJUDICE 

forced  to  submit  to  the  dictates  of  the  party  bosses  ; 
by  which  the  man  who  hates  the  saloon  is  compelled  to 
vote  and  work  in  its  interest,  and  by  which  a  man  who 
abhors  iniquity  and  despises  a  corrupt  man  is  made  to 
march  up  to  the  polls  and  cast  a  ballot  for  men  he  knows 
are  corrupt,  and  who  may  vote  or  work  for  such  schemes 
as  they  are  paid  to  work  for,  though  they  be  subversive 
of  all  good  government  and  wasteful  of  the  people's 
wealth. 

Party  prejudice  apologizes  for  that  great  enemy  of 
all  good  and  efficient  government,  the  "  spoils  system."' 
It  blinds  men's  eyes  to  the  corruption  which  exists  and 
largely  controls  party  management.  As  the  old,  time 
serving  parties  could  no  longer  exist  without  party  pre- 
judice and  party  spirit,  it  becomes  the  chief  duty  of  the 
party  papers  and  leaders  to  strengthen  and  intensify 
them.  In  this  way  they  are  able  to  hold  the  party  ranks 
together,  to  strengthen  their  outposts  and  entrench  them- 
selves against  all  raids  and  incursions.  In  short  party 
prejudice  is  the  one  great  obstacle  in  the  way  of  success 
of  all  attempts  by  the  people  to  undertake  reforms  in 
our  government.  It  makes  it  nearly  impossible  to  get  a 
hearing  for  any  cause  which  is  not  advocated  as  a  party 
measure,  or  to  get  any  full  or  just  consideration  of  it 
when  once  heard. 

Anything,  a  thunderbolt  from  heaven  or  a  tidal  wave 
from  the  deep  sea !  a  Farmers'  Alliance  or  a  cry  for  cheap 
money,  which  would  knock  this  abominable  conceit  out  of 
the  heads  of  several  millions  of  good  American  citizens, 
and  leave  them  in  a  condition  to  consider  the  things  which 
vitally  concern  their  temporal  salvation,  would  be  as  the 
first  glimmer  in  the  east  which  hails  the  coming  day  1 


POPULAR    PREJUDICE  11 


POPULAR  PREJUDICE— ''THE  GOOD  OLD  IVAV" 

In  all  ages  men  have  opposed  improvements  and 
reforms.  In  science,  in  inventions,  in  politics  and  in 
religion  this  has  been  true.  Men  have  been  persecuted, 
imprisoned  or  executed  for  announcing  the  discovery  of 
a  great  law  of  nature,  for  trying  to  introduce  a  labor- 
saving  machine,  for  promulgating  a  new  religious 
doctrine,  or  for  advocating  a  social  or  moral  reform. 

This  was  true  one  thousand  or  one  hundred  years  ago, 
and  it  is  in  a  measure  true  today.  We  do  not  need  to  go 
back  one  hundred  years  or  ten  years  to  search  for  a  hero 
or  a  martyr.  Not  only  Galileo,  and  Latimer,  and 
Williams,  and  Lovejoy  and  their  compeers,  but  Gambrel 
and  Pladdock  add  to  the  long  list  of  martyrs. 

We  should  be  slow  to  ridicule  or  denounce  any  one 
without  due  consideration,  for  advocating  some  new 
method  or  plan  for  improving  the  physical,  the  material, 
the  social  or  moral  condition  of  mankind,  simply  because 
it  strikes  us  as  being  absurd  or  unwise. 

We  are  accustomed  to  accept  our  present  ways  and 
methods  as  being  the  best  that  can  be  devised,  and  to 
consider  every  innovation  as  wild  and  visionary.  Men 
prefer  -what  they  are  pleased  to  think  is  the  "good  old 
way.''  If  potatoes  have  been  "  planted  in  the  dark  of 
the  moon,"  dark  of  the  moon  it  is  I  As  unregenerate 
infants  were  held  to  be  eternally  damned,  damned  they 
must  be!  As  woman's  "sphere"  was  circumscribed  to 
the  home,  home  she  must  stay  I  As  Latin  was  the  chief 
study  in  a  liberal  course  fifty  years  ago,  so  it  must  be 
to-day.     And  as  there  are  tens  of  thousands  of  democrats 


12  POLITICAL    IGNORANCE 

and  republicans  who  feel  that  they  must  live  and  die  in 
the  fold  of  the  good  old  party,  it  may  be  necessary  to 
wait  until  many  of  them  pass  on  before  we  shall  see  the 
fullness  of  the  better  day.  (A  good  Methodist  Bishop 
remarked  that  ''there  could  be  a  union  between  the 
church  North  and  South  as  soon  as  we  had  a  few  promi- 
nent funerals.") 


CHAPTER  II 

POLITICAL  IGNORANCE— DEFECTIVE  SOURCES 
OF  KNOWLEDGE 

The  ordinary  citizen  depends  almost  wholly  for  his 
knowledge,  his  facts,  his  news  and  his  opinions  upon  all 
subjects  relative  to  political  and  governmental  affairs 
(and  this  includes  many  moral  and  social  questions 
which  should  be  treated  by  the  government),  upon  his 
party  paper.  The  party  paper  as  a  rule  publishes  such 
facts  and  statements  as  are  in  the  interests  of  its  party 
(or  derogatory  to  the  interests  of  the  other  parties),  and 
suppresses  all  facts  which  are  not  in  its  interest.  This 
is  what  it  was  born  for,  and  what  the  party  bosses  hire  it 
to  do. 

How  can  a  man  correctly  judge  who  does  not  have  the 
facts  on  which  to  base  a  correct  judgment?  How  can  we 
expect  the  ordinary  American  citizen,  well  educated 
though  he  be,  to  accept  or  even  consider  any  plan 
or  idea   of    reform    in    government    which  is   opposed 


DEFECTIVE    NEWS   SOURCES  13 

by  his  party,  and  either  ignored,  ridiculed  or  denounced 
by  the  party  papers,  while  he  depends  on  such  papers 
for  facts  and  conclusions  in  regard  to  it? 

If  popular  government  has  not  perished  from  off  the 
face  of  the  earth,  popular  knowledge  of  government  and 
the  subjects  which  should  be  treated  by  the  government 
have  almost  disappeared  so  far  as  the  teachings  of  the 
American  party  paper  is  concerned.  It  is  a  conspiracy 
of  misrepresentation  and  silence. 

These  statements  will  not  be  accepted  by  the  ordinary 
citizen  who  is  solid  for  his  party.  Even  men  and 
women  who  are  well  informed  in  a  general  way,  flatter 
themselves  that  their  daily  paper  furnishes  them  all  the 
news  of  the  day  which  is  of  any  moment  to  a  substantial 
citizen.  Their  daily  paper  is  loaded  with  news.  It  is  a 
great  blanket  sheet.  The  managers  represent  the  very 
soul  of  enterprise.  The  paper  gives  full  particulars  of 
all  obtainable  cases  of  scandal,  and  if  there  is  a  dearth  of 
such  news  it  has  some  stories  of  that  class  made  to  order  I 
It  gives  full  page  accounts  of  divorce  trials!  It  publishes 
lengthy  reports  of  the  "  rounds  "  of  the  prize  ring  1  It 
contains  many  other  things  of  a  similar  character  which 
go  to  make  it  a  great  engine  for  the  depression  of  the 
social  and  moral  conditions  of  humanity. 

And  then  it  has  the  associated  press  dispatches,  and 
"you  know"  that  these  dispatches  contain  all  the 
political  news  of  any  importance  to  any  body,  (to  the  old 
parties,  would  be  correct.)  Who  originated  the  press 
dispatches?  AVho  manage  them?  Who  use  them? 
Who  pay  for  them?  Why  the  associated  press  of  course. 
Who  are  they?  The  leading  daily  papers,  nearly  all  of 
which  uphold  one  or  other  of  the  old  parties.     No  body 


14  PARTISAN    MISREPRESENTATION 

else.  That  is  to  say,  they  are  managed  in  the  interest  of 
those  w^\o  pay  for  them.  It  is  a  matter  of  business  with 
them.  They  gather  such  news  as  they  are  called  upon 
to  furnish. 

The  press  dispatches  contain  such  news  as  are  not  pre- 
judicial to  either  old  party,  to  whose  organs  they  are 
sent.  The  faults,  the  failings,  the  lapses  from  rectitude 
of  the  party  leaders,  must  as  a  rule  be  passed  in  silence. 
No  stained  garments  must  be  exposed  to  the  public.  No 
evil  practices  may  be  criticised.  No  unwelcome  reforms 
favored. 

Each  old  party  depends  upon  spoils,  upon  plunder, 
upon  the  saloon,  upon  the  great  monopolies  and  trusts, 
upon  rings  and  bosses,  upon  bribers,  brewers,  saloon- 
keepers. And  these  great  agencies  and  agents  necessary 
for  party  power  must  not  be  derided,  and  the  press 
reporters  must  hew  to  this  line. 

For  example,  whoever  read  in  a  republican  paper  any- 
thing about  the  notorious  Gas  Trust  of  Philadelphia,  a 
ring  as  bold,  as  corrupt,  as  grasping  as  the  celebrated 
Tweed  Ring  of  New  York?  This  Gas  Ring  held  com- 
plete sway  in  Philadelphia  for  about  twenty  years — from 
1860  to  1881 — fattened  upon  the  people,  controlled  the 
republican  party  of  the  state  and  in  this  way  almost 
absolutely  ruled  the  state.  It  also  had  large  influence  in 
national  affairs.  Mr.  James  Bryce  in  his  "  American 
Commonwealth,"  says  of   the  ring: 

"  The  possession  of  the  great  city  offices  gave  the 
members  of  the  ring  the  means  not  only  of  making 
their  own  fortunes,  but  of  amassing  a  large  reserve 
fund  to  be  used  for  "  campaign  purposes.''  Many  of 
these  officers  were  paid  by  fees  and  not  by  salary.     Five 


THE    PHILADELrHIA    GAS    TRUST  15 

officers  were  at  one  time  in  the  receipt  of  an  aggregate  of 
$223,000  a  year  or  an  average  of  $44,600  each.  One,  the 
collector  of  delinquent  taxes,  received  nearly  $200,000  a 
year.  Many  others  had  the  opportunity,  by  giving  out 
contracts  for  public  works  on  which  they  received  large 
commissions,  of  enriching  themselves  almost  without 
limit,  because  there  was  practically  no  investigation  of 
their  accounts." 

During  the  rule  of  the  ring,  from  1860  to  1881,  the 
city  debt  rose  from  $20,000,000  to  $70,000,000,  and  taxa- 
tion reached  a  point  where  it  amounted  to  between  one 
fourth  and  one  third  of  the  net  income  from  the  property, 
with  the  property  assessed  at  nearly  its  full  value. 

This  ring  was  finally  broken  through  the  exertions 
of  a  Citizens'  Committee  of  One  Hundred.  A  reform 
democrat,  Mr.  Hunter,  was  elected  Mayor  in  1881,  and 
the  way  for  reform  was  opened.  For  a  time  many 
reforms  were  instituted,  corruption  in  high  places  was 
stopped,  bad  laws  repealed,  and  city  politics  purified. 
But  the  labors  of  the  Committee  of  One  Hundred  had 
been  so  arduous,  it  took  so  much  of  their  time,  and  they 
were  fought  so  persistently  by  the  party  leaders,  that 
the  members  became  tired,  and  in  1883  and  1884,  their 
candidates  were  beaten  by  the  republican  machine,  and 
they  retired  from  the  field.  (Any  one  wishing  an  account 
of  this  ring  should  read  Mr.  Bryce's  Work.)  "  As  a  dog 
returneth  to  his  vomit,  and  a  sow  that  was  washed  to 
her  wallowing  in  the  mire,"  so  do  the  people  in  this 
''  land  of  the  free  and  home  of  the  brave "  under  the 
blind  dictation  of  party  prejudice  and  party  spirit  return 
to  be  led  and  robbed  by  party  bosses. 

After  the  Committee  gave  up  its  work,  under  machine 
and  ring  rule  the  affairs  of  the  city   gradually   returned 


16  DEFECTIVE    NEWS    SOUKCES 

into  some  of  the  old  ways,  until  it  was  again  checked  by 
the  revolt  of  a  portion  of  the  republican  party  of  the 
state  from  the  notoriously  corrupt  management  of  the 
party  bosses,  by  the  election  of  a  democratic  governor 
in  a  state  overwhelmingly  republican,  and  finally  by  the 
arrest  of  several  offenders  and  the  collapse  of  the  Key- 
stone Bank. 

And  the  worst  feature  in  connection  with  it  is  that 
Mat.  S.  Quay,  one  of  the  most  corrupt  of  all  party 
bosses,  for  years  the  boss  of  the  republican  machine  in 
Pennsylvania,  was  for  a  long  time  Chairman  of  the 
National  Republican  Committee,  and  was  kept  in  that 
position  for  months  after  he  had  been  publicly  charged 
with  malfeasance  in  office,  and  until  he  was  really  com- 
pelled to  resign  by  the  clamors  against  him  in  his  party 
at  home.  And  when  he  resigned  his  position  as  chair- 
man, the  committee  "gave  him  a  character,"  highly 
commending  him  as  a  pure,  high  minded  and  patriotic 
citizen  1 1 

Now,  such  facts  are  not  advertised  in  republican  papers. 
Of  course  the  fact  of  Bardsley's  arrest  and  defalcation 
was  mentioned  in  the  press  dispatches.  When  a  public 
officer  is  convicted  of  embezzlement  the  fact  is  made 
public.  But  the  facts  connected  with  it  and  which  led 
up  to  it  are  not  enlarged  upon  by  a  party  paper. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  present  notoriously  corrupt  man- 
agement of  New  York  City  affairs  under  Tammany  rule, 
notwithstanding  the  fact  that  the  ring  was  broken  and  the 
offenders  brought  to  justice  during  the  noted  Tweed  admin- 
istration, is  not  dwelt  upon  by  democratic  papers.  Nor  do 
the  democratic  papers  have  anything  to  say  about  the 
democratic  ring  which  rules   the  city  of   Baltimore. 


SILENCE   OR   MISREPRESENTATION  17 

One  of  the  most  common  cases  of  failure  to  give  news 
by  the  great  dailies  is  the  obliviousness  to  news  favorable 
to  temperance  and  prohibition  movements.  Any  one 
familiar  with  the  facts  knows  this  to  be  true.  A  marked 
instance  of  this  was  the  failure  of  all  the  dailies  to  make 
any  mention  of  the  intimidation  and  violence  practiced 
at  the  polls  in  the  election  in  Omaha  at  the  close  of  the 
prohibitory  'amendment  campaign.  There  never  was  a 
case  of  the  '*  shotgun  policy  "  practiced  in  the  South  to 
intimidate  the  blacks  from  voting,  more  outrageous  than 
was  this  case  of  "  bludgeon  policy  "  as  practiced  in  Omaha 
on  that  day.  There  were  many  instances  of  intimidation, 
of  men  being  hooted  at,  driven  from  the  polls  and 
beaten,  on  that  day,  in  order  to  carry  the  election  in  the 
interest  of  the  saloons  and  the  old  parties,  but  never  a  word 
appeared  in  regard  to  it  in  a  single  great  daily,  and  not  a 
mention  of  it  in  any  associated  press  dispatch.  The 
kind  of  press  dispatches  we  saw  at  that  time  were: 
"  Prohibition  snowed  under  in  Nebraska."  '*  A  big  major- 
ity against  the  amendment."  "  Reports  from  Iowa  go  to 
show  that  Prohibition  is  losing  ground  there,  and  that 
the  law  will  probably  be  repealed  at  the  next  session  of 
the  legislature."  "  Prohibition  in  Kansas  is  proving  to 
be  an  utter  failure;  liquors  are  freely  and  openly  sold 
everywhere  in  that  state." 

While  the  results  of  the  State  elections  of  1891  were 
being  reported,  telegraph  dispatches  were  sent  over  the 
country  to  the  effect  that  the  vote  of  the  Farmers' 
Alliance  had  greatly  fallen  off,  that  the  Alliance  was 
evidently  going  to  pieces  and  need  no  longer  be  feared  as 
a  disturbing  element  in  politics.  These  reports  were 
entirely  without  foundation.     Although  the  total  vote  in 


18  NEWSPAPER    MISREPRESENTATION 

1891  was  much  less  than  that  of  1890,  there  was 
uniformly  an  increase  in  the  Alliance  vote.  In  Kansas 
this  increase  was  about  11  per  cent.  The  Republican 
majority  in  South  Dakota  was  reduced  from  10,000  in 
1890  to  2,760  in  1891,  and  in  Nebraska  the  People's 
party  came  within  3,000  votes  of  defeating  the  combined 
power  of  both  the  old  parties,  and  elected  eleven  district 
judges. 

The  same  plan  of  either  misrepresenting  or  entirely 
ignoring  the  facts,  which  had  been  practiced  so  long  in 
regard  to  the  Prohibition  party,  was  thus  begun  with  the 
People's  party,  and  this  system  of  lying  by  wholesale 
may  be  depended  upon  from  the  corrupt  management  of 
the  old  parties. 

These  reports  were  sent  for  political  effect.  No  effort 
was  made  to  correct  them.  In  1890  the  Democratic 
party,  in  strongly  Republican  districts,  united  with  the 
Alliance,  but  in  1891  in  many  localities  the  old  parties 
combined  in  self  defense  against  their  common  enemy. 

Instead  of  this  being  a  government  of  the  people,  for 
the  people  and  hy  the  people,  it  is  a  government  of  the 
party,  for  the  party  and  hy  "  the  boss."  The  question 
with  the  modern  statesman  is  not "  What  will  benefit  the 
people?"  but  "What will  profit  my  party?"  and  "What 
will  help  me  and  my  friends  to  a  place?" 

This  chapter  was  written  before  the  opening  of  the  cam- 
paign of  1892,  and  it  is  but  fair  to  say  that  there  has  been 
a  decided  improvement  in  the  tone  of  many  of  the  lead- 
ing dailies  this  year  in  reporting  news  of  the  new  parties. 
The  reports  of  their  conventions  have  been  quite  full  and 
fair  as  compared  with  those  of  previous  years.  This  is 
very  commendable,  and  a  notable  sign  of  the  times. 


CHAPTER  III 

''THE  SPOILS  SYSTEM''  —SALOON  DOMINATION- 
WRONG  IDEA   OF  GOVERNMENT 

"  The  Spoils  System  "  is  responsible  for  nearly  all  of 
our  present  corrupt  or  inefficient  administration  of  the 
government.  Men  get  responsible  positions  in  charge  of 
the  business  and  affairs  of  the  nation,  not  because  of 
fitness  for  the  positions,  not  because  they  are  honest, 
honorable,  able,  qualified  and  adapted  to  the  places;  but 
because  of  party  service,  because  of  "  claims  upon  the 
party "  or  the  party  bosses,  and  because  of  ability  and 
disposition  to  still  serve  the  party,  while  occupying  (not 
filling)  a  place  in  government  employ. 

In  this  way  the  party  "  boss,"  the  men  who  manage 
the  canvas,  those  who  contribute  the  funds,  the  men  who 
control  the  saloon  vote,  the  bribers,  the  brewers,  the 
"  ward  heelers,"  the  thugs  and  the  toughs  are  coming  to 
a  considerable  extent  to  fill  the  offices  from  United  States 
senator  to  policeman. 

This  is  especially  the  case  in  the  government  of  some 
of  the  large  cities,  and  the  power  they  obtain  in  the 
councils  of  the  State  and  Nation,  brings  discredit  and 
dishonor  upon  our  public  affairs  and  upon  the  name  of 
popular  government.  The  government  of  the  average 
American  city  has  come  to  be  a  disgrace  and  a  blot  upon 
our  boasted  civilization.  Modern  politicians  deem  the 
offices  to  be  their  legitimate  spoils,  and  the  people's 
wealth  their  legitimate  plunder.     This  is  the  crying  evil 

19 


20  THE   SPOILS   SYSTEM 

and  abomination  of  our  politics  and  government  to-day. 
It  is  at  once  the  life  of  the  old,  time  serving  parties,  and 
the  death  of  decent  popular  government. 

The  mismanagement,  extravagance  and  peculation  too 
often  found  in  our  administration  of  public  affairs,  and 
for  which  the  spoils  system  is  responsible,  is  the  chief 
argument  advanced  in  opposition  to  any  proposed  exten- 
sion of  public  business  by  the  government.  We  are  told 
that  the  government  should  not  undertake  more  business 
because  there  would  be  "  so  much  corruption."  This 
argument  comes  from  those  who  are  defenders  of  the 
spoils  system,  or  from  those  who  have  lost  faith  in  our 
ability  to  carry  on  a  pure  and  honest  government,  and  is 
in  itself  a  charge  that  popular  government  in  our  great 
Republic  has  already  proved  a  failure. 

No  reform  of  government  can  be  effectually  carried  out 
without  complete  and  absolute  reform  of  our  civil  service. 

SALOON  DOM/NATION 

Next  to  the  spoils  system  and  going  hand  in  hand  with 
it,  comes  the  saloon,  as  a  prime  factor  in  American 
politics.  It  is  not  simply  the  fact  that  the  saloon  is  a 
"  school  of  vice  "  and  a  "  nursery  of  crime  "  that  makes 
it  an  obstacle  to  any  and  all  reforms,  but  the  fact  that  in 
our  country  it  has  in  a  measure  come  to  dominate  poli- 
tics, and  to  shape  legislation  and  select  the  officials,  that 
makes  it  an  arch  enemy  to  all  good  government. 

Neither  of  the  old  parties,  as  a  national  party,  has  any 
quarrel  with  the  saloon.  They  both  receive  its  support 
and  give  it  their  countenance  and  endorsement.  They 
can  not  do  otherwise  and  do  not  propose  to. 


SALOON    INFLUENCE    IN    POLITICS  21 

It  is  true  that  in  Iowa  and  to  a  less  extent  in  Kansas 
tlie  Republican  party  supports  prohibition.  The  Repub- 
lican State  Convention  in  Iowa  in  1891  pronounced  by  a 
vote  of  nine  hundred  and  fifty  one  to  one  hundred  and 
seven  in  favor  of  prohibition  as  the  law  of  the  state  and 
against  high  license  and  local  option.  (This  was  written 
before  the  meeting  of  Iowa  republicans  of  this  year,  at 
which  their  action  was  not  nearly  so  pronounced  for  pro- 
hibition.) 

It  is  also  true  that  in  several  southern  states  a  large  part 
of  the  territory  is  under  local  prohibition  and  that  in  every 
case  this  has  been  brought  about  almost  entirely  by  demo- 
cratic votes.  But  these  facts  do  not  alter  the  general  fact 
that  in  most  of  the  northern  and  in  all  of  the  southern  states, 
and  as  a  national  party,  the  Republican  party  is  a  license 
and  a  whiskey  party;  and  that  the  Democratic  party  in 
all  the  northern  states  and  as  a  national  party  is  entirely 
devoted  to  the  saloon  interest  so  far  as  that  is  concerned. 

The  saloon  is  the  friend  of  bribery  and  corruption;  the 
copartner  with  the  lottery,  the  gaming  table  and  the 
bawdy  house;  the  patron  of  the  prize  ring;  the  rendezvous 
of  the  burglar  and  the  assassin ;  the  headquarters  of  the 
"  ward  heeler  "  and  the  "  thug,"  and  the  potent  ally  of 
the  political  boss.  It  is  often  the  chosen  place  for  the 
ward  caucus  and  the  precinct  election.  From  no  man 
or  set  of  men  can  we  expect  any  genuine,  effective,  or 
lasting  service  for  reform  who  do  not  openly  and  boldly 
oppose  this  gigantic  evil. 

WRONG  IDEA  OF  GOVERNMENT 

Finally  in  considering  state  and  national  affairs,  we 
must  correct  our  ideas,  rather  our  ^ense  than  our  knowl- 


22  MISTAKEN   IDEA   OF   GOVERNMENT 

edge,  of  government;  what  it  is;  what  it  means.  We 
should  constantly  bear  in  mind,  that  the  people  are  the 
rulers.  That  we  are  or  should  be  the  government. 
That  all  power  and  authority  is  in  us  if  we  would  but 
exercise  it.  That  the  officers  of  the  government  are  our 
servants.     We  should  instruct  them. 

All  the  money  and  support  comes  from  us.  The 
public  lands  are  ours.  The  Government  mortgages 
against  the  Union  and  Central  Pacific  Railroads  are  ours. 
All  needless  expense  and  waste  and  loss  in  public  affairs 
comes  out  of  our  pockets.  The  nation  has  no  bank,  or 
mine,  or  considerable  source  of  wealth  except  in  the  toil, 
the  economy,  the  thrift  and  the  wealth  of  its  people. 
Every  subsidy,  every  bounty,  every  pension,  every  tax, 
every  expense  must  be  paid  by  our  labor  or  taken  from 
our  capital. 

Let  us  not  make  the  mistake  of  looking  upon  the 
government  as  something  separate  and  apart  from  us,  a 
thing  in  and  of  itself,  depending  on  its  own  power, 
volition  and  resources.  We  should  do  nothing  as  a 
nation  that  we  would  not  in  like  circumstances,  do  as 
individuals. 

And  we  should  always  remember,  that  when  we  speak 
of  the  government,  we  speak  of  ourselves,  our  delegates, 
our  servants  and  employes.  So  if  there  is  praise  or 
blame  to  bestow  we  are  its  recipients.  Let  us  then 
profit  by  our  experience  and  by  that  of  others,  even 
though  we  learn  of  the  "  pauper  laborers  "  and  "  effete 
monarchies  "  of  Europe,  and  of  the  despised  heathen  in 
far  off  isles  of  the  sea.  Let  us  not  be  vain  of  our 
wisdom  or  proud  of  our  ways.  We  have  much  to  learn, 
much  to  be  ashamed  of,  much  room  for  improvement. 


OBSTACLES    IN    THE    WAY    OF    REFORM  23 

Let  us  try  to  approach  the  subject  with  a  clear  vision 
and  an  honest  mind,  unclouded  by  party  spirit,  by  old 
time  prejudice  or  misrepresentation,  and  undisturbed 
by  the  clamor  of  those  who  would  resort  to  desperate 
means  or  the  ridicule  of  those  who  are  well  satisfied  with 
present  conditions. 

Thus  as  we  enumerate  and  specify  these  various 
obstacles  which  stand  as  a  high  wall  in  the  way  of 
material,  social  and  moral  advancement,  we  begin  to 
realize  in  a  measure  how  difficult  it  is  to  get  a  hearing 
for  any  cause  or  any  method  which  does  not  accord  with 
present  ways,  or  cannot  be  worked  out  with  the  present 
political  machines.  We  see  how  ignorant,  how  blind, 
and  how  deaf  and  dumb  are  the  masses  of  the  people  to 
some  of  their  best  interests.  We  see  how  strong  is  the 
grip  of  the  party,  the  "  boss  "  and  "  the  machine  "  and 
of  the  plutocrat,  the  spoilsman  and  the  saloon. 

TARIFF  AS  A  SUPREME  ISSUE 

Lastly,  we  have  the  tariff  question  as  the  main  issue 
between  the  old  parties,  monopolizing  the  thought  of 
the  people,  preventing  consideration  of  other  questions, 
and  acting  as  a  cloud  of  dust,  filling  the  eyes  and  dis- 
tracting the  attention  of  a  majority  of  the  American 
people.     For  particulars  see  chapter  on  the  tariff. 


PART    II. 


A  SEARCH  FOR  CAUSES  OF  POVERTY  AND 

THE  UNEQUAL  DISTRIBUTION 

OF  WEALTH 


CHAPTER  IV 

MILLIONAIRES 

At  the  outset  of  our  consideration  of  the  questions  per- 
taining to  the  disparity  in  the  material  conditions  of  the 
people,  and  the  causes  for  this  disparity,  we  will  observe 
first  men  of  greatest  wealth  and  the  sources  from  which 
their  vast  accumulations  have  been  derived,  and  perhaps 
in  taking  this  general  survey  we  may  be  able  to  learn 
some  of  the  causes  of  poverty  by  observing  the  sources  of 
greatest  individual  wealth.  When  too  much  of  the  life 
current  flows  to  the  central  organs  of  the  body  the  ex- 
tremities become  cold,  and  the  patient  has  a  chill.  In 
like  manner  we  may  reasonably  expect  that  when  a  large 
proportion  of  wealth — the  life  current  of  the  nation — 
flows  into  the  coffers  of  the  few,  the  many  must  needs  be 
impoverished  by  the  drain  upon  the  common  source  of 
supply.  With  the  nation  as  with  the  individual,  con- 
gestion at  one  point  produces  lack  of  blood  at  another. 

Keliable  information  regarding  the  number  of  million- 
aires, and  especially  the  amount  and  sources  of  individ- 
ual wealth,  are  not  readily  obtainable.  A  statement  of 
the  amount  of  wealth  of  any  of  our  great  millionaires 
should  be  taken  as  approximate.  We  have,  as  a  rule,  no 
means  of  ascertaining  with  exactness  the  wealth  of  rich 
men  in  the  United  States,  except  after  their  death.  In 
England,  where  an  income  tax  is  collected  from  the  rich, 
it  becomes  the  business  of  the  government  to  know  the 

26 


26  A    MILLIONAIRE   ERA 

• 

wealth  of  individuals.  But  we  may  learn  the  amount  of 
the  wealth  of  our  rich  men  with  sufficient  accuracy  for 
our  comparisons. 

Mr.  Thomas  G.  Shearman,  in  his  i^orw^n  article  has  made 
an  extended  enumeration  of  some  of  our  great  millionaires 
with  an  estimate  of  their  individual  wealth,  which  is 
probably  as  nearly  correct  as  may  be  found.  The  Neio 
Yorh  Tribune  has  also  furnished  an  extended  list  of  men 
throughout  the  country  who  are  reputed  to  be  worth  a 
million  or  more,  but  it  does  not  give  estimates  of  individ- 
ual wealth,  except  in  a  few  instances,  so  that  its  list  is 
not  satisfactory  in  this  respect.  There  is  a  wide  difference 
between  a  fortune  of  a  million  and  one  of  a  hundred 
millions. 

A  notable  fact  in  regard  to  millionaires  is  that  the 
United  States  has  furnished,  during  the  last  thirty  years, 
a  field  for  the  accumulation  of  large  fortunes  vastly 
beyond  that  of  any  other  nation  or  of  any  other  period  in 
history.  Indeed,  in  that  time  individual  fortunes  have 
been  amassed  in  the  United  States  upon  such  a  stupend- 
ous scale  as  to  very  far  surpass  any  acquisition  of  wealth 
before  known  among  men. 

England  is  the  great  commercial  and  financial  center 
of  the  business  world,  yet  England,  with  her  landed 
nobility  who  own  vast  estates,  her  great  bankers,  manu- 
facturers and  merchants,  does  not  furnish  millionaires  to 
compare  with  those  of  our  country.  The  noted  bankers 
of  England  and  France,  whose  names  are  familiar  to 
American  readers,  do  not  nearly  approach  in  the  magni- 
tude of  their  fortunes  the  colossal  wealth  of  several  rich 
Americans. 

During  these  three  decades,  while  wealth  has  greatly 


CAUSES   FOR   MILLIONAIRES  27 

increased  in  the  hands  of  the  few,  as  a  rule  the  values  of 
the  farmers'  lands,  except  in  the  newer  states  and  in 
proximity  to  cities,  have  depreciated,  and  the  proportion 
of  farm  mortgages  and  of  tenant  farmers  has  largely 
increased.  This  would  seem  to  indicate  that  the  causes 
which  have  made  a  few  rich  have  made  many  poor.  And 
not  this  alone,  but  the  fact  that  along  with  this  rapid 
accumulation  of  great  fortunes  we  have  an  increase  in 
the  proportion  of  people  who  lack  for  the  comforts  of  life, 
who  are  forced  to  the  most  exacting  toil  to  maintain  a  bare 
existence  or  are  unable  to  find  sufficient  employment  to 
provide  for  a  decent  living  ;  that  with  our  illimitable 
sources  and  facilities  for  producing  almost  everything 
required  for  the  comfort  of  mankind  there  should  be  so 
many  who  do  not  secure  a  fair  share  of  the  wealth  pro- 
duced, that  is  arresting  the  attention  of  the  American 
people  and  has  incited  the  present  upheaval  in  our  polit- 
ical life. 

With  such  notable  and  unquestionable  facts,  showing 
the  existence  of  conditions  which  have  produced  and  are 
still  producing  this  wide  inequality  in  the  distribution  of 
wealth,  we  may  well  consider  what  the  causes  and  what 
shall  be  the  remedies  for  these  evils. 

In  our  search  for  millionaires  we  will  first  look  among 
the  farming  classes,  as  they  constitute  the  largest  number 
of  workers  and  are  the  principal  producers  of  wealth.  Do 
we  find  them  ?  Is  there  a  considerable  proportion  of 
farmers  who  have  become  millionaires?  No.  There  is 
not.  We  might  search  diligently  and  would  find  but  few 
instances  of  men  who  have  made  a  million  in  any  ordinary 
farming  enterprise.  Men  have  made  millions  by  securing 
large  tracts   of   cheap   lands,   especially   of  government 


28  WHO   ARE   THE    MILLIONAIRES 

lands,  by  fraudulent  entries  or  by  collusion  of  dishonest 
government  agents  and  holding  for  advanced  values,  by 
herding  large  flocks  of  cattle  or  sheep  upon  the  public 
domain,  and  in  some  western  states  by  growing  grain 
upon  an  extended  scale.  Many  farmers  become  "  well  to 
do,"  they  acquire  thousands,  but  not  millions. 

Who  then  are  the  millionaires,  and  how  did  they  make 
their  money  ?  They  are  men  who  manage  the  railway 
and  telegraph  lines  and  express  companies  ;  men  who 
control  the  production  and  distribution  of  coal,  and  oil, 
lumber  and  refined  sugar  ;  those  engaged  in  manufactures 
of  iron,  steel,  glass,  cordage  ;  those  engaged  in  mining 
silver,  gold,  copper  and  lead  ;  bankers,  brokers,  specula- 
tors ;  those  who  have  been  made  rich  by  rise  of  real 
estate  in  cities  ;  men  who  are  in  the  position  to  dictate  the 
prices  people  must  pay  for  their  meat  and  many  other 
articles  of  prime  necessity  ;  these  and  others  who  have  to 
a  large  extent  a  monopoly  of  the  business  in  which  they 
are  engaged,  and  are  enabled  to  exact  exorbitant  charges 
for  the  services  rendered  the  people. 

By  far  the  larger  number  of  great  American  millionaires, 
and  especially  those  .  whose  fortunes  have  been  acquired 
during  the  last  three  decades,  are  men  who  have  made 
their  money  mainly  in  constructing,  capitalizing,  manag  - 
ing  and  consolidating  railway  lines.  Perhaps  one-half  of 
the  total  acquisition  of  the  notably  great  fortunes  in  that 
time  have  been  made  in  that  way.  These  are  the  men 
whose  absorption  of  a  large  proportion  of  the  p*rofits  of 
labor  has  been  a  chief  cause  for  close  times  among  so 
many  people. 

It  is  probable  that  a  list  of  fifty  individuals,  includ- 
ing estates,  could  be  made,  whose  combined  wealth  would 


RAILWAY    MILLIONAIRES  29 

aggregate  $1,500,000,000,  mainly  amassed  in  railroad 
affairs.  This  list  would  include  Cornelius  Vanderbilt, 
William  K.  Vanderbilt,  Jay  Gould,  Leland  Stanford,  John 
I.  Blair,  Collis  P.  Huntington,  G.  B.  Roberts,  F.  W.  Van- 
derbilt, Russell  Sage,  Calvin  S.  Brice,  Charles  M.  McGhee, 
Chauncey  M.  Depew,  Chester  W.  Chapin,  John  H.  Inman, 
Samuel  Sloan,  Samuel  Thomas,  Timothy  Hopkins,  Fred- 
erick L.  Ames,  James  I.  Hill,  Erastus  Corning,  Austin 
Corbin  and  J.  Rogers  Maxwell,  and  the  estates  of  Charles 
Crocker,  Thomas  A.  Scott,  J.  W.  Garrett,  Moses  Taylor, 
Mark  Hopkins,  Nathaniel  Thayer,  E.  F.  Drake,  Wm.  L. 
Scott,  Wm.  Thaw,  Horace  F.  Clark  and  Sidney  Dillon. 

Also  smaller  fortunes  have  been  made  by  a  much 
larger  number  of  men  in  a  similar  way,  and  by  men 
who  were  also  engaged  in  banking,  mining  or  other  busi- 
ness, and  a  considerable  part  of  whose  wealth  was 
acquired  in  railway  investments.  No  very  definite 
estimate  can  be  made  of  the  aggregate  wealth  possessed 
by  these  lesser  railway  millionaires,  but  we  may  fairly 
assume  that  taking  altogether  the  men  who  have  made 
large  fortunes  in  railway  affairs,  their  total  wealth 
acquired  by  this  means  amounts  to  at  least  one-half  as 
much  as  the  present  total  value  of  all  the  railways  of  the 
country,  about  $2,500,000,000  or  $3,000,000,000. 

But,  be  this  as  it  may,  the  indisputable  fact  remains, 
that  much  the  largest  number  of  our  great  millionaires 
are  railway  men,  and  this  fact  is  a  significant  one  for  the 
American  people.  It  shows  that  the  question  of  cheaper 
transportation  is  the  greatest  economic  problem  before  the 
American  people.  It  means  that  a  large  amount  of  wealth 
has  been  taken  from  its  legitimate  channels  by  men  who 
have  been  managers  of  what  should  be  national  highways, 


30  SOME   COMPARISONS 

by  exacting  extortionate  tolls  upon  the  traffic  over  these 
highways  and  thus  taxing  the  industries  of  the  whole 
country,  and  is  now  piled  up  in  these  colossal  fortunes. 
It  does  not  stand  for  legitimate  earnings,  savings  or 
profits. 

For  the  farmer  it  has  stood  for  low  prices  of  wheat  and 
cattle  and  corn,  and  for  high  prices  of  coal  and  tools  and 
lumber.  It  stands  for  mortgages  on  many  farms.  For  the 
mechanic,  laborer  and  tradesman  it  has  added  to  the  cocst 
of  his  food,  his  tools  and  his  home,  and  has  deprived  him 
of  many  comforts  and  luxuries  which  he  should  have  had, 
in  order  to  swell  the  vast  fortunes  of  these  railway 
millionaires. 

The  average  earnings  of  able-bodied  mechanics,  farmers 
and  laborers  in  the  United  States,  those  who  are  fortunate 
and  have  work,  is  less  than  $500  a  year.  The  average 
savings  of  such  men  who  are  ordinarily  thrifty  is  less 
than  $100  a  year.  Mr.  Jay  Gould  has  amassed  a  fortune 
of  about  $100,000,000  in  the  past  thirty  years  by  man- 
aging and  manipulating  railway  properties.  This  fortune 
represents  an  amount  equal  to  the  total  earnings  of  200,000 
busy  men  for  one  year  ;  it  represents  an  amount  equal  to 
the  total  savings  of  1,000,000  busy  and  thrifty  men  for  one 
year.  As  the  majority  of  men  do  not  earn  or  save  so 
much,  and  as  many  do  not  have  steady  or  profitable 
employment,  such  a  fortune  is  a  greater  sum  than  the 
total  savings  of  100,000  ordinary  men  in  a  lifetime. 

If  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  had  decreed  that  Christopher 
Columbus  and  his  heirs  after  him  should  receive  a  per- 
petual pension  of  $250,000  annually  from  the  Spanish 
government  as  a  reward  for  his  great  service  in  the  dis- 
covery of  a  new  world,  and  the  amount  had  been  regu- 


NOTED  MILLIONAIRES  31 

larly  paid  from  1492  to  this  date,  the  total  payments 
would  have  amounted  to  a  sum  no  greater  than  the  pres- 
ent wealth  of  a  Gould,  Vanderbilt  or  Stanford. 

As  we  investigate  the  problem  of  our  railway  manage- 
ment, we  shall  find  that  there  are  many  ways  in  connec- 
tion with  it  by  vv^hich  the  few  are  enriched  and  the  many 
impoverished.  As  indicated  by  the  proportion  of  our 
great  millionaires  who  are  railway  men,  we  will  find  that 
the  present  methods  of  railway  management  in  our 
country  is  one  of  the  chief  causes  for  the  disparity  in  the 
conditions  of  the  people,  and  one  which  we  have  not  as  yet 
begun  materially  to  remedy.  The  railway  problem  is  an 
important  one,  and  one  which  urgently  demands  the 
attention  of  the  people.  The  subject  is  treated  at  length 
in  several  chapters  of  this  work. 

John  Jacob  Astor,  William  Waldorf  Astor  and  Mrs. 
William  Astor  are  supposed  to  be  the  three  wealthiest 
persons  of  one  family  in  the  world,  with  possessions  val- 
ued at  about  $100,000,000  each.  John  Jacob  Astor, 
founder  of  the  Astor  estate,  made  a  great  fortune  for 
his  time,  by  merchandising  and  in  the  fur  trade,  and 
this  fortune,  invested  in  New  York  real  estate  in  early 
times,  has  grown  to  be  the  largest  estate  held  in  one 
family,  unless  it  be  that  of  the  Vanderbilts. 

Commodore  Vanderbilt  got  his  start  in  life  in  the  steam- 
boat business,  but  he  early  embarked  in  railway  man- 
agement and  made  the  bulk  of  his  fortune  in  that 
line  of  business.  He  was  the  first  of  the  great  railway 
managers,  and  was  a  notable  financier.  Although  the 
Astor  estate  had  grown  to  many  millions  before  Vander- 
bilt was  fairly  started  on  the  road  to  wealth,  yet  the 
Vanderbilt  estate,  now  owned  principally  by  three  sons. 


32 

amounts  to  nearly  or  quite  as  much  as  the  wealth  of  the 
Astors. 

The  most  notable  group  of  millionaires  next  to  the 
railway  managers  is  composed  of  the  Standard  Oil  men. 
Mr.  John  D.  Rockefeller  stands  with  J.  J.  Astor,  "William 
Waldorf  Astor,  Cornelius  Vanderbilt,  William  K.  Vander- 
biltj  Jay  Gould  and  Leland  Stanford,  having  wealth  in 
the  neighborhood  of  $100,000,000.  John  D.  Rockefeller, 
Wm.  Rockefeller,  H.  M.  Flagler,  O.  H.  Payne,  John  H. 
Flagler,  Oliver  B.  Jennings  and  others,  including  the 
estate  of  Charles  Pratt,  representing  the  Standard  Oil 
Trust,  have  a  combined  wealth  of  about  $300,000,000. 

The  best  known  millionaire  next  to  those  already  named 
is  Mr.  Andrew  Carnegie,  of  Homestead  fame.  He  belongs 
to  a  very  numerous  list  of  millionaires  who  have  been 
enabled  to  build  large  fortunes  by  aid  of  our  high  pro- 
tective tariffs.  These  fortunes  have  been  made  in  manu- 
factures of  iron,  steel,  glass,  cordage,  drugs,  fabrics^  in 
mining  copper,  borax,  lead,  and  in  many  other  lines  of 
business  which  are  made  very  profitable  by  our  tariffs. 
In  many  cases  protected  industries  have  become  monop- 
olies by  the  practical  exclusion  of  foreign  competition, 
which  enabled  producers,  by  combining,  to  exact  exor- 
bitant prices  for  their  products.  Pennsylvania  furnishes 
a  large  list  of  millionaires  of  this'class. 

The  New  York  Tribuyie,  in  its  list  of  millionaires,  pub- 
lishes the  names  of  197  in  a  total  of  379  millionaires  of 
Pennsylvania  who  made  their  fortunes  mainly  in  protected 
industries.  These  fortunes  were  made  mostly  in  manu- 
factures of  iron,  steel  and  glass  and  in  mining  coal. 

There  is  a  large  number  of  millionaires  who  have  made 
their  wealth  mostly  in  the  ownership  of  pine  lands  and 


THE    "  IRREPRESSIBLE    CONFLICT  "  33 

in  the  lumber  business,  which  is  a  protected  industry. 
Michigan  has,  according  to  the  Tribune  list,  about  50  of 
this  class  in  a  total  of  90,  more  than  any  other  state. 

The  Tribune  furnishes  a  list  of  names  of  1,125  million- 
aires who  made  their  fortunes  mainly  in  protected  indus- 
tries, in  a  total  list  of  4,047.  The  most  striking  contrast 
shown  by  its  summing  of  classes  is  as  follows : 

Number  of  millionaires  who  made  their  fortunes  mainly 
in  protected  manufacturing,  including  saw  mills  and 
lumber 757. 

In  unprotected  manufacturing 2. 

Our  government  has  succeeded  by  its  high  tariffs,  not 
only  in  "  nursing  infant  industries,"  but  in  nursing  the 
millionaire  industry,  as  well.  This  subject  is  treated 
at  some  length  in  chapters  on  the  tariff. 

There  is  a  considerable  number  of  millionaires  who 
have  made  their  fortunes  mainly  in  banking  and  in 
merchandizing,  but  there  is  no  instance  of  a  fortune 
having  been  made  in  either  of  these  lines  which 
amounts  to  even  one-half  as  much  as  those  of  the  great 
railway  kings,  unless  we  except  the  Astor  estate,  and  this 
was  not,  for  it  was  built  up  mainly  by  the  rise  in  value  of 
New  York  real  estate.  Neither  bankers,  merchants,  or 
men  engaged  in  any  other  ordinary  calling,  where  there 
is  no  special  opportunity  for  controlling  an  entire  line  of 
trade,  have  furnished  any  very  marked  examples  of  great 
millionaires.  The  most  prominent  of  these  are  A.  T.  Stew- 
art, H.  B.  Claflin,  John  V.  Farwell  and  Marshall  Field 
among  merchants,  and  F.  A.  Drexel,  A.  J,  Drexel,  J.  S. 
Morgan,  J,  P.  Morgan  and  the  Seligmans  among  bankers. 
But  neither  of  these  amassed  a  fortune  amounting  to  but 
little  more  than  one-fourth  as  much  as  those  of  the  great 


34  GOVERNMENT   CONTROL 

railway  magnates,  although  requiring  a  longer  period  of 
time  in  acquisition. 

The  Oil  Trust,  the  Dressed  Beef  Trust,  the  Sugar  Trust, 
some  protected  manufacturing  and  mining  industries  and 
other  combinations  of  capital  aside  from  the  railway, 
telegraph  and  express  lines  have  often  exercised  great 
power  in  obtaining  legislation  in  their  interests.  Great 
wealth  in  the  hands  of  a  few  men  represents  a  great  and 
very  dangerous  power  over  productive,  financial  and  com- 
mercial interests,  over  legislation  and  over  the  conduct  of 
government. 

It  is  this  vast  power  which  capitalists  and  combinations 
of  capitalists  have,  not  only  over  almost  every  material 
interest  throughout  the  land,  but  over  large  bodies  of 
mechanics  and  laborers,  over  whole  communities  of  men 
and  women  in  manufacturing  and  mining  districts,  that 
has  brought  the  burning  question  of  the  "  irrepressible 
conflict  '^  between  capital  and  labor  to  a  point  where  it  is 
imperative  that  the  state  and  national  governments  shall 
come  in  and  decide  by  legislation  and  by  arbitration  all 
differences  between  such  large  contending  interests. 
These  large  fortunes  and  this  vast  power  in  the  hands  of 
a  few  men  have  been  built  up,  have  been  made  possible, 
through  and  by  the  direct  aid  of  the  government  and  of 
the  whole  people ;  by  franchises,  subsidies,  bounties, 
privileges,  loans  and  credits  ;  by  high  tariffs  and  by  the 
protecting  hand  of  a  strong  government. 

That  which  the  government  creates  it  should  control. 
We  should  not  construct  engines  that  we  cannot  manage 
when  built.  We  should  not  help  men  to  build  great  high- 
ways by  granting  franchises,  special  privileges  and 
bounties,  and  when  built  submit  to  a  direct  tax  from  the 


SOLUTION   OF  THE   LABOR   QUESTION  35 

men  we  have  aided,  by  allowing  them  to  "  charge  what 
the  traffic  will  bear."  If  we  subsidize  favored  industries 
by  aid  of  high  protective  tariffs  which  act  as  a  direct  tax 
upon  all  consumers  of  the  products  of  such  industries, 
we  should  at  least  see  that  the  laborers  engaged  in  them, 
those  who  make  the  wares,  should  have  a  fair  proportion 
of  the  profits.  Not  only  the  industry  but  the  laborer 
engaged  in  it  should  be  protected.  It  should  not  be  left 
entirely  to  capital  to  say  what  reward  labor  shall  receive. 

Our  country  should  no  longer  be  disgraced  and  the 
well-being  of  the  laboring  masses  jeopardized  by  strikes 
and  lockouts;  by  riot,  murder  and  wholesale  destruction 
of  property;  by  the  exactions  of  powerful  corporations  on 
the  one  hand,  or  the  clamors  of  noisy  and  unreasonable 
leaders  among  employes  on  the  other.  It  is  high  time 
that  instead  of  all  this  we  should  have  a  reign  of  reason, 
law  and  order,  and  that- the  questions  of  rights  and  com- 
pensations between  employer  and  employed  shall  be 
decided  and  enforced  by  competent  authority. 

The  ultimate  solution  of  this  labor  question  so  far  as 
regards  the  differences  between  great  corporations  and 
their  armies  of  employes  will  not,  however,  be  found  along 
lines  so  far  suggested.  In  the  case  of  the  transportation 
problem,  the  results  of  legislation  and  commissions  have 
been  found  to  be  only  palliative,  and  the  solution  of  the 
question  is  to  be  found  only  in  the  line  advocated  in  the 
several  chapters  on  that  question  in  Political  Prohlems, 
So  in  regard  to  this  labor  problem,  the  results  of  legislation 
and  commissions  will  be  found  to  be  but  palliative,  and  the 
final  solution  of  the  question  must  come  along  the  same 
line  as  will  the  final  remedy  for  the  burdens  resulting 
from  our  present  system  of  corporate  management  of  the 


36  SUBSIDIZING  MILLIONAIRES 

railways.  But,  as  a  present  remedy,  government  arbitra- 
tion should  be  resorted  to  wherever  the  differences  between 
the  conflicting  interests  cannot  be  otherwise  amicably 
settled. 

We  have  also  the  political  plutocrats,  men  who  have 
amassed  wealth  by  managing  politics,  by  getting  fat  places 
and  holding  them  for  all  the  money  that  could  be  made 
out  of  them,  by  levying  tribute  upon  the  people,  by  job- 
bery and  plunder.  Of  such  is  the  political  "  boss,"  and 
some  of  these  have  been  able  to  place  themselves  in  the 
United  States  Senate. 

Most  of  the  men  who  have  made  great  fortunes  in  the 
past  thirty  years  have  been  enabled  to  do  so  by  direct  aid 
of  the  people  ;  by  grants  of  land  ;  by  credits,  subsidies, 
loans ;  by  franchises  and  special  privileges  and  immunities : 
by  laws  which  favored  monopolies;  and  by  combina- 
tions of  capital  and  power  which  acted  to  destroy  com- 
petition and  afford  clear  fields  for  the  operations  of  great 
trusts.  The  railways  have  been,  to  a  large  extent,  built 
by  subsidies  and  favors  from  the  people.  The  Standard 
Oil  men  got  special  rebates  on  freight  charges  from  the 
railways,  which  alone  would  have  enabled  them  to  kill  all 
competition.  And  so  by  subsidy,  special  privilege,  job- 
bery and  combine  are  many  millionaires  made. 

It  is  not  a  crime  to  be  rich.  A  man  may  be  a  million- 
aire and  not  be  a  villain  It  does  not  always  follow  that 
a  man  has  swindled  the  people  in  accumulating  a  million, 
but  it  does  follow  that  he  has  obtained  wealth  which  he 
has,  as  a  rule,  not  earned,  and  is  not  justly  entitled  to. 
And  it  follows  that  the  people  are  not  wise  in  offering 
premiums  to  the  millionaire  industry,  in  voluntarily  pay- 
ing tribute  to  it,  in  furnishing  special  inducements  for  its 


WHICH    CLASS    SHALL    WE    FAVOR  37 

growth.  It  is  among  the  industries  which  we  do  not  need 
to  "  nurse."     It  is  not  on  the  ''  infant '"  list. 

It  is  the  man  who  has  but  a  hundred  or  a  thousand 
who  should  be  assisted  in  his  endeavors  to  add  to  his 
wealth,  rather  than  the  man  who  has  a  million  or  a  hun- 
dred millions.  While  we  have  prated  much  of  "  protection 
to  American  industry,"  as  the  chief  and  solid  corner-stone 
of  our  political  fabric,  we  have  in  fact,  in  more  ways  than 
one,  protected  the  American  millionaire  industry  and 
failed  to  protect  the  industry  of  the  American  millions. 
Perhaps  we  have  undertaken  in  our  day  and  generation 
to  exemplify  literally  the  words  of  the  Book  ;  "  Unto  him 
who  hath  much,  much  shall  be  given,  but  unto  him  who 
hath  little  shall  be  taken  away,  even  that  which  he  hath." 

The  problem  of  how  to  favor  the  millions,  and  how  not 
to  favor  the  millionaires,  is  coming  to  be  an  important 
question  with  the  American  people,  and  will,  in  the  pro- 
cess of  time  be  considered  by  American  statesmen.  There 
are  many  questions  which  bear  upon  this  problem  and 
become  a  part  of  it,  and  a  large  part  of  this  work  is 
devoted  to  a  consideration  of  some  of  these  questions. 
We  can  plainly  show  how  we  have  been  as  a  people, 
systematically,  blindly  going  on  laboring  to  enrich  the 
few  and  impoverish  the  many,  and  how  we  may  and 
should  cease  to  do  evil  in  these  ways,  and  learn  to  do  well 
by  lightening  the  burdens,  smoothing  the  rugged  path- 
way, and  adding  to  the  comfort  and  the  store  of  the  toiling, 
care-oppressed  millions. 

A  remedy  for  the  perpetuation  of  millionaire  estates  by 
the  transmission  of  wealth  from  parent  to  child  may  be 
found  in  a  graduated  tax  upon  legacies,  making  a  heavy 
tax  on  the  estates  of  millionaires.  This  subject  is  treated 
in  the  chapters  on  taxation. 


CHAPTER  V 

INDIVIDUAL    HABITS    AND    CHARACTERJSTTCS  — 

NATURAL    CAUSES   AND   ENVIRONMENT- 

THE  DRINK  HABIT 

We  find  those  who  are  more  or  less  active,  industrious, 
enterprising  and  frugal  and  we  speak  of  a  combination  of 
these  qualities  as  thrift.  And  we  usually  find  those  who 
are  thrifty  comfortably  provided  for  even  under  adverse 
surroundings,  while  often  the  unthrifty  are  unable  to 
properly  care  for  themselves  and  families  though  con- 
ditions be  favorable. 

Thrift  and  unthrift  account  for  much  of  the  difference 
in  condition  between  rich  and  poor.  The  thrifty  are 
always  gathering,  always  caring  for  what  they  have  in 
store  :  the  unthrifty  fail  to  gather  as  they  should,  and 
they  allow  moth  and  rust  and  mice  and  storm  to  decimate 
their  supply. 

"  A  penny  saved  is  good  as  twopence  earned."  The 
success  of  an  individual  in  "  getting  a  start  in  life ''  depends 
upon  saving  more  than  upon  earning.  Wastefulness, 
extravagance,  living  close  up  to  or  beyond  one's  income 
and  buying  what  one  cannot  pay  for  :  these  are  guide- 
posts  on  the  highway  to  poverty  and  the  almshouse. 

To  have  a  provision  for  a  regular  income  that  can  be 
depended  upon,  is  the  first  requisite  to  success  in  life.  To 
be  able  to  do  something,  and  to  do  that  something  well — 
to  excel  in  one's  vocation,  marks  the  first  mile  stone  on 
the  highway  to  a  competence  or  a  fortune  ;  to  live  within 

88 


INDIVIDUAL   CHARACTERISTICS  39 

one's  income  marks  the  second  mile  stone  ;  and  the 
amount  which  one  is  able  to  lay  by  each  month  or  year 
"  for  a  rainy  day,''  and  the  measure  of  ability  to  wisely 
use  or  invest  the  savings,  determines  the  relative  rapidity 
with  which  the  mile  stones  may  be  passed. 

Not  that  prudence  and  habits  of  saving  are  always 
virtues,  but  that  they  are  potent  means  of  acquiring 
wealth. 

Some  would-be  philosophers  tell  us  that  thrift  and 
unthrift  account  for  nearly  all  of  the  differences  in  the 
material  conditions  of  individuals.  But  we  know  this  is 
not  true.  We  have  often  seen  conditions  prevailing 
where  nearly  all  were  well  provided  for  and  surrounded 
by  plenty,  and  we  have  seen  times  and  places  where  the 
many  were  hard  pressed  to  obtain  a  comfortable  living. 

Again  we  have  those  who  are  cunning,  grasping  and 
unscrupulous,  ready  to  take  any  possible  advantage  of 
their  fellows,  ready  to  take  from  the  widow  and  the 
friendless,  and  to  "  grind  the  face  of  the  poor,"  and  for 
such,  as  far  as  may  be,  the  law  should  prescribe  bounds. 

NATURAL  CAUSES  AND  ENVIRONMENT 

The  farmer  contends  with  rocky  and  barren  soils  ;  with 
heats  and  frosts  ;  with  the  wet  season  and  the  drought ; 
with  weevil,  chintz  bugs,  borers,  gophers,  rabbits,  rats  and 
many  other  trials  and  pests. 

The  merchant  is  dependent  upon  the  farmer  and 
mechanic.  His  goods  are  liable  to  rust,  decay,  fade,  go 
out  of  style,  depreciate  in  value.  He  often  has  to  pay 
high  rents,  insurance,  taxes  ;  sometimes  competition  is 
close.     There  is  no  business   which   is   not   subject  to 


40  NATURAL    CAUSES 

changes,  depressions,  annoyances,  losses,  dull  times,  and 
to  the  necessity  of  close,  exacting  attention  in  order  to 
succeed. 

All  men  are  more  or  less  creatures  of  circumstances,  of 
heredity,  of  education  and  early  training,  of  associations 
and  surroundings,  of  locality  and  environment.  So  that 
when  we  consider  the  results  of  experience  in  any  indus- 
trial enterprise  or  under  any  law  or  regulation,  we  should 
remember  that  there  are  many  factors  which  enter  into 
almost  any  problem  of  human  life  and  human  endeavor, 
and  that  it  is  often  difficult  to  judge  the  power  of  any  partic- 
ular cause  or  force  in  bringing  about  the  results  obtained. 

The  Drink  Habit  is  one  of  the  most  apparent  causes  of 
poverty  and  distress.  It  is  a  thing  "  known  and  read  of 
all  men  "  from  the  early  dawn  of  history.  Wherever  the 
saloon  is,  there  are  found  men — the  strong,  active,  and 
intelligent  as  well  as  the  weak  and  the  ignorant — who 
should  be  able  to  provide  abundantly  for  themselves  and 
families,  but  who  look  "  seedy,"  their  wives  and  children 
clothed  in  shabby  garments  and  their  homes  becoming 
dilapidated.  And  when  it  is  known  of  such  a  man  that 
''  he  drinks,"  that  fact  sufficiently  accounts  to  the  mind 
of  any  one  for  the  man's  failure  to  succeed  in  the  world. 

Everyone  knows  that  the  man's  earnings,  which  should 
have  bought  food,  clothing  and  other  necessaries  for  the 
home,  have  instead  largely  gone  over  the  counter  of  the 
saloon.  And  that  while  the  man's  money  has  gone  to  the 
saloon  keeper,  that  which  he  received  for  his  money  has 
been  making  him  day  by  day  less  able  to  obtain  work, 
and  less  able  to  perform  his  labor.  He  is  not  only  wast- 
ing his  substance  but  wasting  his  physical  energies,  and 
degrading  his  manhood. 


THE    DRINK    HABIT  41 

The  drink  habit  is  a  most  fertile  source  of  poverty, 
disease  and  want,  and  the  most  prolific  cause  of  demoral- 
ization, degradation,  pauperism,  vice  and  crime.  All  this 
and  much  more  is  well  known  of  the  evil  results  of  strong 
drink.  The  facts  are  well  established  and  are  seldom 
denied.  The  vast  majority  of  the  people  of  the  United 
States  know  something  of  the  magnitude  of  this  evil  and 
concede  and  appreciate  its  force  and  bearing  on  the  moral, 
physical  and  financial  well  being  of  our  people.  No  man 
can  enumerate  all  the  evils  and  horrors  which  follow  in 
its  train.  Few  realize  the  weight  of  this  burden  upon  our 
people. 


CHAPTER  VI 

COST  OF  THE  DRINK  TRAFFIC 

The  people  of  the  United  States  pay  about  one  thousand 
million  dollars  a  year  for  liquors.  Statistics  are  often 
unreliable.  In  many  cases  it  is  impossible  to  get  reliable 
data  for  showing  cost  or  waste,  or  loss  or  gain,  in  important 
matters  in  regard  to  which  we  need  the  facts.  In  many 
things  we  can  make  only  estimates. 

As  to  the  amount  of  the  nation's  drink  bill,  we  have 
exact  data  from  which  to  make  up  the  bulk  of  the  account. 
It  is  a  plain  business  proposition.  The  production  of 
liquor   is  directly   under  national  supervision,  and  the 


42  THE    DRINK    HABIT 

Internal  Revenue  Department  shows  the  amount  of 
liquors  "  withdrav/n  for  consumption  "  each  year.  For 
1889  there  was  of  : 

Domestic  distilled  spirits    -    -    70,000,000  gals. 
"       wines        -        30,000,000    " 
"     fermented  liquors         -     25,000,000  bbls. 
Any  one  by  learning  the  retail  prices  for  liquors  can 
readily  compute  the  approximate  cost  of  these  amounts 
to  the  people.     By  adding  one-fifth  to  the  quantity  of  dis- 
tilled "  proof  spirits  "  for  reduction  to  the  strength  as 
ordinarily  retailed,  and  counting  it  at  six   dollars  per 
gallon  as  an  average  price  as  sold  by  the  glass,  counting 
the  wine  at  two  dollars  per  gallon,  and  beer  at  eighteen 
dollars  per  barrel  (at  five  cents  per  half  pint  glass  it 
would  amount  to  twenty-four  dollars  per  barrel)  we  have 
the  cost  at  retail  as  follows  : 

Domestic  distilled  spirits     -        -    $500,000,000 

"  wines  -  60,000,000 

"        fermented  liquors         -      450,000,000 

Imported  "  20,000,000 

Illicit,  smuggled  and  home  made  )     on  000  000 

liquors,  estimated  -  )  '       ' 

$1,050,000,000 
Mr.  F.  N.  Barrett,  editor  of  the  American  Grocer,  at  the 
request  of  the  Chief  of  the  Bureau  of  Statistics,  submitted 
a  report  on  this  subject,  based  on  the  Government  statis- 
tics for  the  year  1886,  in  which  he  made  the  direct  retail 
cost  for  liquors  for  that  year  to  be  $700,000,000.  His 
figures  must  be  conservative  for  he  thought  the  "  fanatical 
advocates  "  had  made  their  sum  too  large.  Mr.  Edward 
Atkinson,  about  the  same  time  made  a  computation  agree- 
ing with  that  of  Mr.  Barrett.     The   amount  of  liquors 


THE    DRINK    HABIT  43 

consumed  in  1889  was  greater  than  in  1886.  Some  esti- 
mate the  nation's  liquor  bill  to  be  $1,100,000,000  a  yeai, 
and  we  may  consider  one  billion  as  a  fair  calculation. 

This  sum  represents  the  first  cost  of  the  liquor  to  the 
people  who  drink,  and  is  a  total  loss  to  the  consumers. 
It  is  a  sum  which  should  be  paid  for  food  and  clothing, 
for  houses  and  lands,  for  tools  and  furniture,  for  books 
and  periodicals,  for  churches  and  schools,  for  carrying  on 
the  business  of  life.  It  is  an  immense  sum.  It  represents 
a  fearful  waste.  But  it  is  only  a  part  of  the  cost  of  the 
drink  trafiic  to  the  drinkers  and  to  the  nation.  The 
liquors  are  not  only  of  no  possible  benefit  to  those  who 
use  them,  but  are  a  positive  injury.  They  do  not  give 
health  or  strength  or  vigor.  They  do  not  make  the  brain 
clearer  or  the  step  more  elastic.  They  cause  weakness  and 
sickness,  disorders  of  the  body  and  the  mind.  So  far  as 
the  drinkers  are  concerned,  this  vast  sum  would  be  far 
better  cast  into  the  sea,  than  to  be  spent  for  that  which  de- 
stroys character  and  manhood,  wastes  fortunes  and  blasts 
lives.  No  man  can  enumerate  all  the  evils  which  follow  in 
the  train  of  the  drink  traffic,  but  we  can  tell  enough. 
We  must  add  to  the  cost  of  the  liquors  in  order  to  approxi- 
mate the  total  cost  of  the  drink  trafiic,  other  items  as  follows : 

1.  Lost  Labor.  From  loss  of  health  and  strength  and 
endurance,  from  loss  of  character,  from  loss  of  time  and 
opportunity,  from  loss  of  place.  Loss  from  debauch  and 
sickness  and  imprisonment.  Loss  from  enfeebled  mind  and 
shortened  lives.  Some  rate  the  loss  of  productive  ability 
from  drink  to  be  equal  to  the  cost  of  the  drink — that  the 
ordinary  drinker,  especially  the  hard  drinker,as  a  rule,  loses 
in  this  way  in  a  lifetime,  as  much  as  the  drink  costs.  Prob- 
ably a  fair  estimate  is  to  place  it  at  one-third  as  much. 


44  THE    DRINK    HABIT 

2.  Cost  of  Sickness  from  Drink.  Expense  of  care, 
board  and  medical  service.  Some  careful  computations 
go  to  show  that  there  are  on  an  average  about  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  thousand  persons  sick  at  all  times  from  the 
use  of  liquors,  and  that  it  costs  fifty  thousand  dollars 
a  year  to  care  for  them. 

3.  Cost  of  Crime  from  Drink.  At  least  three-fourths 
of  the  crimes  are  caused  by  the  use  of  liquors.  A  large 
part  of  the  cost  of  police  service,  of  criminal  courts  and 
officials  and  of  prisons  and  reformatories  is  made  nec- 
essary by  drink.  The  cost  of  arrests,  trials  and  impris- 
onment, from  being  "  drunk  and  disorderly/'  and  from 
graver  crimes  caused  by  intemperance,  becomes  a  large 
tax  upon  the  people,  estimated  at  $35,000,000  a  year. 

4.  Cost  of  Pauperism  and  Insanity  Caused  by  Drink. 
Estimated  at  $15,000,000. 

The  figures  here  given  show  the  annual  cost  of  the 
liquor  traffic  in  the  United  States  to  be  : 

Cost  of  liquors        -        -        -  $1,000,000,000 

Loss  of  labor      .        -        -        -  330,000,000 

Loss  from  sickness  -         -         -  -    50,000,000 

^^'      ''      crime          -         -         -  35,000,000 

"    pauperism  and  insanity  -      15,000,000 

Total,     $1,430,000,000 

As  an  offset  to  this  we  have  municipal,  state  and 
national  taxes  paid  by  the  liquor  traffic,  about  $135,000- 
000  per  year.  And  we  suppose  the  traffic  should  receive 
credit  for  the  amounts  paid  for  fruits,  grains  and  other 
material,  and  for  labor  used  in  manufacture  of  liquors. 
But  after  making  all  reasonable  reductions  we  would  still 


THE    DRINK    HABIT  45 

have  as  the  cost  and  loss  to  the  nation  each  year  for  drink, 
over  one  billion  dollars  in  cash. 

Data  for  making  these  computations  has  been  taken 
from  "  The  Encyclopedia  of  Temperance  and  Prohibition," 
by  Funk  and  Wagnalls. 

But  we  have  so  far  been  enumerating  only  the  direct 
cost  and  loss  to  the  people  who  use  the  liquors  and  the 
amounts  needed  for  their  care,  correction  and  mainte- 
nance. Besides^  there  is  the  sickness,  wounds,  insanity 
and  death  in  the  families  of  the  drinkers  caused  by  want, 
exposure,  neglect  and  cruel  treatment^and  also  the  attend- 
ant poverty  which  makes  the  drinker's  family  often  a 
burden  upon  society. 

And  is  this  all  ?  Shall  we  take  no  account  of  the  sor- 
row, the  suffering,  the  shame,  the  disgrace?  Can  we 
measure  the  deep  degradation  and  misery  of  the  drunk- 
ard or  the  untold  anguish  and  the  bitter  desolation 
of  the  drunkard's  wife  and  children  ?  Can  we  conceive 
of  the  heartache,  the  dread,  the  despair  of  the  drunkard's 
father  and  mother?  Shall  we  consider  only  food,  raiment 
and  shelter  for  the  body,  and  have  no  thought  for  the 
peace  and  comfort  and  happiness  of  the  mind  ?  Are 
truth,  and  honor,  and  virtue  and  sobriety  not:*to  be 
weighed  in  the  balance?  And  shall  we  take  no  account 
of  the  tens  of  thousands  of  human  lives  destroyed  each 
year  by  this  drink  plague? 


CHAPTER  VII 

SPECULATION  IN  LAND— THE   CREDIT  SYSTEM 

More  notable,  more  sweeping,  more  wholly  wasteful  and 
disastrous  to  communities  than  almost  any  other  cause 
of  poverty  and  loss,  is  speculation  in  land.  Like  measles 
and  scarlet  fever,  it  appears,  now  here,  now  there.  It 
comes  on  gradually  and  increases  in  force  and  volume. 
It  is  infectious.  Men  and  women  take  it  from  their 
friends,  and  inhale  it  from  the  air.  It  regards  neither 
age,  sex,  color  or  "  previous  condition  of  servitude." 

Banker  and  barber,  preacher  and  doctor,  farmer  and 
merchant,  servant  girl  and  washerwoman,  yes,  the  widow 
and  the  orphan,  all  alike  bring  their  tribute,  they  bring 
often  all  they  have — houses,  lands,  homes — and  cast  it  on 
the  flood-tide  of  speculation  and  see  it  swept  out  into  the 
remorseless  sea  of  utter  waste  and  loss. 

Like  the  appetite  for  drink,  or  passion  for  the  game,  it 
grows  on  one.  It  is  insidious,  seductive,  enticing  ;  and 
apparently  legitimate,  respectable  and  safe. 

Some  men  can  drink  or  can  let  it  alone  ;  the  ordinary 
man  can  not.  Some  can  win  large  stakes  and  quit  with 
a  full  purse,  but  that  is  not  the  usual  way. 

For  a  time,  speculation  in  land  is  a  winning  venture, 
and  the  greater  the  gains  and  the  longer  continued,  the 
more  wholly  is  the  speculator  absorbed  in  the  game.  But 
by  and  by  the  end  approacheth,  and  the  man  who  "  can 
drink  or  can  let  it  alone ''  quits,  while  the  multitude  go 
on  to  financial  ruin. 

46 


SPECULATION   IN   LAND  47 

The  man  who  begins  to  speculate  in  land,  like  a  man 
who  puts  "  a  mortgage  on  the  farm,"  is  starting  on  the 
road  to  penury  and  want.  Every  "  boom  "  in  land  values 
is  bound  to  come  to  an  untimely  end,  and  the  higher  the 
fever  and  the  greater  the  boom,  the  greater  the  disaster 
when  the  end  comes. 

Somewhere  we  read  of  "  land  hunger,"  with  the  Okla- 
homa boom  as  an  example  showing  how  ''  hungry  "  men 
are  for  land.  In  Los  Angeles,  during  its  third  and  latest 
boom,  men  stood  in  line  all  night,  or  hired  substitutes  to 
hold  their  places,  in  order  to  be  among  the  first  in  the 
morning  to  have  a  chance  to  select  lots  in  a  proposed  town 
out  on  a  rocky,  barren  waste.  Probably  some  of  these 
same  Los  Angeles  boomers  were  "  in  at  the  death  "  at 
Oklahoma. 

Away  in  Winnepeg,  Manitoba,  men  bought  town  lots 
which  they  never  saw,  at  auction  by  lamplight.  This  kind 
of  "  land  hunger  "  is  not  of  the  kind  which  tends  to  make 
two  blades  of  grass  to  grow  where  only  one  grew  before. 
Indianapolis,  Kansas  City,  Fort  Smith,  Wichita,  Denver, 
San  Diego,  Los  Angeles,  Seattle  and  Tacoma  and  most  of 
the  towns  and  cities  of  the  country  have  had  their  booms 
and  their  depressions. 

And  this  is  not  only  the  case  with  town  property,  but 
farm  lands  also  have  their  periods  of  exalted  and  fictitious 
values  and  of  depressions  below  the  point  of  intrinsic 
worth.  Many  a  farmer  has  lost  a  good  farm  by  trying  to 
possess  one  or  two  more.  To  be  "  land  poor  "  is  to  be 
poor  indeed. 

Buying  something  which  one  does  not  need  because  it 
seems  cheap,  with  the  hope  of  selling  to  some  one  who 
does  need  it  at  a  higher  price,  is  always  a  risky  under- 


48  SPECULATION   IN   LAND 

taking.  Things  so  bought  are  often  found  to  be  very  dear 
before  they  are  sold.  Every  period  and  phase  of  undue 
exaltation  is  bound  to  be  followed  by  its  period  of  undue 
depression. 

An  elderly  gentleman  who  passed  through  the  Indian- 
apolis boom,  says  that  after  the  boom  had  collapsed  he 
paid  out  sixty  thousand  dollars  in  good  money  to  try  to 
save  his  property  and  then  lost  it  all.  That  "  Truth  is 
stranger  than  fiction  "  is  exemplified  in  the  history  of  any 
great  real  estate  boom. 

In  the  unwritten  history  of  the  great  boom  in  Southern 
California  in  1886  and  1887  one  might  find  abundant 
material  for  the  wildest  romance,  and  that  by  telling  a 
"  plain  unvarnished  tale." 

Thousands  of  good  people,  all  sorts  of  people,  almost 
whole  communities,  those  who  were  ordinarily  careful, 
saving,  penurious,  as  well  as  the  extravagant  and  venture- 
some, launched  out  on  the  sea  of  speculation  and  suddenly 
became  wealthy.  They  counted  not  their  wealth  by  hun- 
dreds or  by  thousands,  but  by  tens  of  thousands,  hun- 
dreds of  thousands  and  millions. 

And  then,  in  a  few  months,  the  boom  rolled  by  and 
most  of  these  people  found  themselves  poor.  The  most  of 
them  so  poor  that  they  could  not  pay  their  debts,  and 
they  had  a  hard  time  of  it  to  "  keep  body  and  soul 
together."  They  didn't  have  roast  beef  and  turkey  so 
often,  but  were  glad  to  get  mush  and  potatoes. 

Men  who  in  1887  had  bank  transactions  footing  up 
many  thousands  each  month,  in  1889  did  not  know  how 
to  make  a  turn  to  pay  for  another  sack  of  flour. 

While  the  great  and  long  extended  boom  of  Kansas 
City  was  drawing  its  last  breath,  and  the  high  flown  boom 


SPECULATION    IN    LAND  49 

of  Southern  California  was  suffering  from  a  bad  state  of 
collapse,  Denver  was  at  the  zenith  of  its  exaltation,  and 
the  lively  boom  at  Seattle  and  Spokane  was  in  the  acme 
of  its  glory.  Now,  at  the  close  of  1891,  while  Southern 
California  has  succeeded  fairly  well  in  pulling  itself 
together  after  its  great  disaster,  Denver  real  estate  is  hunt- 
ing lower  levels,  and  the  glory  of  Spokane,  Seattle  and 
Tacoma  and  the  ''Sound  Country"  is  waning  from  its 
highly  exalted  state. 

Besides,  when  men  think  they  are  making  money 
rapidly  they  are  almost  sure  to  spend  rapidly,  and  to 
become  extravagant  and  wasteful.  It  is  not  at  all  a  diffi- 
cult matter  to  spend  money.  ''  Easy  come  easy  go."  And 
so  it  follows  that,  while  the  speculation  goes  on  lively,  a 
large  per  cent  of  the  amount  handled  is  expended, 
consumed  or  wasted  in  one  way  and  another  ;  in  build- 
ings, equipages,  furniture,  servants,  travels,  amusements, 
fine  clothes,  dissipations  and  the  thousand  ways  known 
to  man  and  to  woman.  In  this  way  the  accumulations 
made  by  years  of  hard  earning  and  careful  saving  are  in 
a  short  time  swept  into  nothingness.  What  was  not  lost 
by  the  venture  is  lost  by  fast  living.  By  the  bunghole  or 
the  spigot  it  all  goes.  Wealth  so  spent  is  swept  out  of 
existence  as  much  as  if  by  fire  or  flood.  Though  it  be 
''  an  ill  wind  that  blow^s  nobody  good,"  yet  what  is  lost  to 
the  individual  is,  in  the  main,  lost  to  the  state. 

During  the  speculative  period  production  is  reduced  to 
zero,  because  all  the  producers  have  become  speculators, 
and  consumption  has  been  raised  to  a  hundred  (or  a  thou- 
sand) because  all  the  speculators  are  "millionaires  of  a  day." 

It  follows  as  the  outcome  of  the  speculation,  that  the 
community  as  a  whole  is  a  great  loser  ;  that   the   vast 


50  THE   CRE->IT    SYSTEM 

majority  of  the  people  have  suffered  a  very  serious  loss, 
and  that  for  many  individuals,  the  loss  is  well-nigh 
irretrievable.  Some  localities  and  some  individualfc  are 
gainers,  but  only  to  a  small  extent  of  the  total  loss.  As 
a  whole  it  counts  heavily  on  the  debtor  side. 

Speculation,  and  especially  speculation  in  land,  is  one 
of  the  great  causes  of  poverty,  loss  and  disaster  to  the 
individual  and  to  the  state,  and  calls  for  remedies  wherever 
and  whenever  practicable.  Not  "land  monopoly,"  but 
"  land  speculation  "  is  the  greater  evil  so  far  as  the  land 
question  is  concerned. 

The  great  financial  panics  and  disasters  of  our  own  and 
other  countries  have  been  caused  largely  by  speculation. 
The  panics  of  1837,  1857  and  1873,  in  the  judgment  of 
our  most  careful  historians,  were  mainly  the  result  of 
speculation. 

THE  CREDIT  SYSTEM 

As  the  social  evil  depends  largely  for  its  life  and  growth, 
on  its  twin  vice,  drink,  so  does  the  evil  of  speculation  in 
land  depend  to  a  great  extent  for  its  vitality  and  magni- 
tude, on  its  twin  evil,  the  credit  system.  Did  men  buy 
only  what  they  paid  for,  the  risk  of  loss  in  speculation 
would  not  be  nearly  so  great. 

It  is  true  that  men  often  begin  to  speculate  in  a  careful, 
moderate  way,  just  as  the  man  who  takes  his  first  glass 
begins  in  a  moderate  way.  But  the  temptation  to  "  invest " 
induces  him  first  to  buy  something  which  in  order  to  pay 
for  requires  capital  which  he  needs  in  his  business  or  for 
his  living,  and  then  the  prospect  of  large  gains  tempts  him 
to  buy  on  a  partial  payment,  hoping  to  sell  and  realize  a 
profit  before  further  payments  fall  due. 


THE    CREDIT   SYSTEM  51 

And  so  it  comes  about  that  the  amateur  speculator  who 
began  with  a  good  resolution  of  "  pay  as  you  go,"  and  with 
a  righteous  fear  of  a  mortgage,  more  and  more  gets  to 
buying  as  much  as  possible  with  the  capital  in  hand  by 
buying  where  the  least  payment  can  be  made.  In  specula- 
tion, the  greater  the  hazard,  the  greater  the  gain,  and  the 
greater  the  loss  in  the  end  if  one  waits  to  the  end  (as 
most  do)  for  a  "  round  up."  The  men  who  "  can  drink 
or  can  let  it  alone,"  (and  you  know  how  many  there  are 
who  can  do  that ! )  could  perhaps  be  trusted  to  speculate 
in  land  by  buying  on  partial  payments,  but  those  who 
can  not  be  sure  of  control  over  their  appetites  should  not 
begin. 

But,  aside  from  buying  land  or  other  things  on  specula- 
tion without  paying  for  them,  in  buying  anything  which 
one  does  not  pay  for  there  is  risk  and  danger.  Remember 
that  unpaid  bills  at  the  stores  and  shops  are  very  apt  to 
bring  a  mortgage  on  the  farm.  And  the  bills  and  the 
mortgage,  either  or  both,  are  very  likely  to  take  the  farm 
sooner  or  later. 

You  may  be  poor,  be  "  hard  run,"  have  to  wear  a  patched 
coat  and  live  on  bread  and  potatoes,  but,  once  get  a  home 
and  have  it  paid  for,  and  buy  only  what  you  pay  for,  and 
you  will  always  have  a  place  of  your  own  while  you 
live,  and  the  widow  and  the  children  will  have  a  place  to 
call  home  if  you  leave  them  behind  when  you  go  to  your 
final  home. 

There  are  occasions  when  it  is  proper  and  expedient  for 
individuals,  or  cities  or  states  to  incur  debt,  but  a  debt 
is  a  burden  as  a  rule  wherever  it  is,  and  should  be 
avoided  and  lightened  and  lifted  whenever  possible. 
Every  man  starting  out  in  business,  or  undertaking  to 


52  MONOPOLIES    AND    TRUSTS 

retrieve  his  fallen  fortune  and  get  on  a  solid  footing, 
should  make  it  a  cardinal  principle  of  business  to  "Pay 
as  you  go."     If  you  can't  pay,  don't  go. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

MONOPOLIES  AND  TRUSTS 

Among  the  most  apparent  causes  of  poverty  are  the 
great  giants  which  have  arisen  in  these  latter  days;  those 
creatures  of  the  Plutocrats  which  have  bodies,  heads,  arms 
and  "  sacks,"  but  no  souls  ;  which  are  often  possessed 
with  great  vigor  and  vitality,  and  which  never  tire, 
never  get  sick,  never  grow  old  and  never  die  ;  which  are 
able  to  wear  out,  tire  out  and  crush  out  of  existence  all 
small  competitors,  and  in  whose  grasp  the  laboring  man 
is  but  as  the  hare  in  the  clutch  of  the  wolf.  Those  stern 
rulers  which  exact  tribute  from  the  people,  whatever 
they  do  or  whichever  way  they  go,  and  tax  them  upon 
almost  everything  which  they  produce  or  consume. 
These  are  the  autocrats  who  rule  us  with  a  relentless 
sway,  who  domineer  us  and  scourge  us  and  hedge  us  about 
and  drive  us  to  the  wall. 

The  octopus,  or  devil-fish,  is  a  denizen  of  the  deep  most 
dreaded  by  man.  Whatever  comes  within  its  reach  is 
clutched  by  its  long  arms,  drawn  into  its  embrace,  and 
beneath  the   deep  waters  its  life  is  crushed  out.     The 


OPINIONS   OF    POLITICAL    LEADERS  58 

monopoly  is  the  octopus  of  the  business  world.  It  reaches 
out  its  powerful  arms  and  crushes  the  life  out  of  any- 
competing  business.  Where  monopoly  comes  competition 
must  go. 

And  what  do  our  great  political  leaders — those  sentinels 
of  ours  who  stand  upon  the  outer  wall  that  they  may  be 
ready  to  cry  aloud  when  danger  approaches — tell  us  about 
the  trusts  ?  Do  they  see  danger?  And  do  they  tell  us 
how  to  avert  it,  or  defend  ourselves  from  its  attacks? 
Hear  what  they  say  :  James  G.  Blaine,  the  great  Captain, 
says : 

"  Well,  I  shall  not  discuss  trusts  this  afternoon.  I  shall 
not  venture  to  say  that  they  are  advantageous  or  dis- 
advantageous. They  are  largely  private  affairs,  with 
which  neither  President  Cleveland  nor  any  private  citizen 
has  any  particular  right  to  interfere." 

So,  you  see,  these  trusts  are  not  such  dangerous  things 
after  all.  Mr.  Blaine  is  a  brilliant  leader  and  ought  to 
know  about  them.  Perhaps  we  have  been  imposed  upon 
by  the  talk  about  monopolies. 

Mr.  Thomas  B.  Reed,  the  republican  leader  in  Congress, 
speaks  of  "the  great  new  Chimera  Trusts,"  and  says  : 
"  Outside  the  patent  office  there  are  no  monopolies  in  this 
country,  and  there  never  can  be.  A  dozen  men  fix  the  prices 
for  sixty  million  freemen !  They  can  never  do  it." 

Mr.  Andrew  Carnegie  also  denies  the  existence  of  monop- 
olies in  this  country.     He  says  they  are  impossible. 

Mr.  McKinley  says  he  has  no  sympathy  with  com- 
binations organized  to  control  the  supply  and  thereby 
control  prices,  and  he  speaks  of  "  the  oil  trust  and  the 
whiskey  trust  which  are  so  commanding  and  powerful, 
which  make  prices  and  alter  them."  He  claims,  however, 
that  there  is  nothing  in  our  tariff  laws  to  proriaote  or  even 


54 


AN   ERA   OF   TRUSTS 


suggest  monopolies.  He  then  goes  on  to  say  :  "There  is 
a  trust  or  combination  made  up  of  all  the  plate-glass 
manufacturers  of  Europe." 

Now,  if  all  the  plate-glass  manufacturers  of  Europe 
can  combine  and  control  prices,  why  not  all  the  plate- 
glass  manufacturers  of  America?  And  if  all  the  plate-glass 
manufacturers  can  combine,  why  not  all  the  manufac- 
turers of  window  glass,  and  steel  rails,  and  steel  beams, 
and  white  lead,  and  cordage,  and  jute  bags,  and  copper, 
and  borax,  and  a  lot  of  other  things  ?  Most  assuredly 
they  can  and  do.  These  combinations  are  on  every  hand 
and  in  almost  every  line  of  business. 

This  is  an  era  of  trusts.  During  the  last  two  decades 
there  has  been  a  great  increase  in  the  number  and  power 
of  business  combinations.  We  have  seen  one  kind  of 
business  after  another  go  under  the  control  of  a  combine. 
It  would  be  difficult  to  enumerate  all  the  many  branches 
of  business  now  controlled  mainly  by  a  combination.  We 
have  monopolies  in  the  trade  in  beef,  borax,  bags,  coal, 
copper,  coffins,  lumber,  land,  lead,  sugar,  salt,  telegraphs, 
telephones,  twine  and  in  many  other  lines  of  business. 

The  monopolies  in  transportation  and  communication 
are  the  greatest  and  most  oppressive,  and  the  question  of 
the  ownership  and  management  of  the  railway  and  tele- 
graph lines  is  the  greatest  economic  question  now  coming 
before  the  American  people.  These  questions  will  be 
found  treated  at  length  in  Part  III. 


CHAPTER  IX 
UNWISE  TAXATION 

A  considerable  part  of  the  burdens  of  the  industrial 
classes  in  this  country  is  chargeable  to  our  unwise  methods 
of  taxation.  Probably  in  no  other  enlightened  nation  is 
there  to  be  found  a  system  of  taxation  so  unwise,  so 
vicious  as  our  own — so  oppressive  to  the  poor,  so  partial 
to  the  rich.  From  taxes  upon  imposts  to  taxes  upon 
"  beds,  bedding  and  cooking  things,"  do  we  carry  out  our 
unstatesmanlike  methods  of  putting  the  greater  propor- 
tion of  burdens  upon  those  who  are  least  able  to  bear  them, 
and  of  favoring  those  who  have  the  greatest  ability  to  pay 
the  cost  of  government  maintenance.  This  is  true  in  a 
larger  degree  in  some  states  than  in  others. 

California  presents  the  extreme  of  our  cumbersome  and 
burdensome  methods  of  taxation.  In  this  state,  a  poor 
widow  whose  sole  earthly  possessions  consist  of  a  small 
stock  of  poor  household  goods,  a  slender  wardrobe,  a  cow 
and  some  chickens,  and  who  is  unable  by  dint  of  the 
most  persistent  toil  and  the  exercise  of  the  most  pinching 
economy  to  decently  support  herself  and  her  children,  is 
compelled  by  the  law  of  the  state  to  pay  the  usual  rate 
of  tax  upon  her  pittance  of  property.  Such  a  tax  is  an 
outrage  upon  common  decency.  It  is  barbarous.  Those 
who  are  unable  to  bear  burdens  should  not  be  compelled 
to  bear  them.  In  exacting  taxes  from  the  very  poor,  we 
but  emulate  the  example  of  those  despots  who  compel 
their  poorest  serfs  to  pay  to  the  ruler  a  proportion  of  all 
they  produce. 

55 


56  UNWISE   TAXATION 

We  also  tax  mortgages  with  the  intent  of  making  the 
holder  of  the  mortgage  pay  a  part  of  the  tax  on  the  prop- 
erty, but  the  man  who  loans  money  always  exacts  an 
additional  per  cent  to  cover  the  mortgage  tax. 

In  some  states  a  limited  amount  of  property  is  exempted 
from  taxation,  and  in  this  way  the  poor  are  favored.  In 
but  very  few  instances  do  we  lay  a  tax  upon  incomes. 
The  income  is  the  best  measure  of  ability  to  pay  taxes. 

As  the  subject  of  taxes  upon  imports  is  made  the  chief 
issue  between  the  old  political  parties,  the  tariff  question 
is  treated  as  a  whole  in  the  next  two  chapters.  Other 
questions  relating  to  taxation  are  treated  in  Part  III. 


CHAPTER  X 
THE  TARIFF— TRUST  TARIFF— CLOG  TARIFF 

A  tariff  is  a  tax  laid  on  imports  or  exports.  A  protective- 
tariff  i^  a  tax  on  imports  of  articles  produced,  or  which  it 
is  thought  should  be  produced,  in  the  country.  A  non- 
protective  tariff  is  a  tax  on  imports  of  articles  not  pro- 
duced in  the  country,  that  is,  not  profitably  produced  or 
in  any  sufficient  quantity  for  the  needs  of  the  country. 
Free  trade  is  the  absence  of  tariff.  The  term  "  free  trade 
tariff  "  is  a  misnomer,  and  the  term  free  trade  is  loosely 
used  in  tariff  discussions,  and  is  misleading. 

The  policy  of  our  government  has  been  mainly  pro- 
tective. We  tax  a  long  list  of  articles  which  we  produce 
to  a  greater  or  les3  extent,  and  we  admit  many  articles 


THE    PROTECTIVE    POLICY  Ot 

free  of  duty ,  but  we  do  not,  as  a  rule,  have  non-protective 
(or  "  revenue  "  )  tariffs.  All  nations  have  tariffs.  Most 
nations  have  tariffs  similar  to  ours.  Some  nations  have 
export  duties,  but  we  do  not.  Great  Britain  and  Holland 
have  no  protective  tariffs.  They  have  non-protective 
tariffs  and  free  trade.  France,  Germany,  Italy  and  most 
nations  have  protective  tariffs. 

The  primary  and  legitimate  objects  of  a  protective 
tariff  are  to  "  nurse  infant  industries  "  by  placing  such 
tax  upon  the  foreign  article  as  will  shield  the  producer 
until  he  can  secure  such  necessary  capital,  machinery, 
skilled  labor  and  experience,  as  will  enable  him  to 
successfully  compete  with  his  foreign  rival,  and  to  con- 
tinue the  tax  while  such  protection  is  needed.  The  rate 
of  tax  being  justly  apportioned  so  as  to  encourage  and 
foster  economic  and  profitable  production  but  not  exor- 
bitant prices.     It  should  not  be  prohibitory. 

The  argument  for  protection  is,  that  a  nation  should, 
as  far  as  practicable,  produce  all  the  things  it  needs  or 
can  make  profitable  for  export,  thus  diversifying  its 
industries  and  employing  its  capital  and  labor,  instead  of 
paying  tribute  to  foreign  capital  and  foreign  labor,  and 
also  thus  adding  to  the  market  for  its  home  products. 

In  many  cases,  beyond  question,  important  American 
industries  have  been  established  and  built  up  by  the  aid 
of  a  protective  tariff,  and  in  many  cases,  beyond  question, 
burdensome  monopolies  have  been  fostered  and  upheld  by 
the  same  means. 

In  what  cases,  and  to  what  extent  such  protection 
should  be  given  is  a  question  to  be  decided  in  each  case 
by  a  careful  consideration  of  the  needs,  the  importance 
and  the  merits  of  each  industry. 


^"  FREE  TRADE.   TRUST  TARIFF. 

The  argument  for  a  non-protective  (or  ''revenue") 
tariff,  is  that  it  is  a  tax,  pure  and  simple,  borne  equally 
by  all  the  consumers  and  paid  directly  to  the  government, 
while  a  protective  tariff  is  a  tax  paid  alike  by  all  the 
consumers,  but  which  goes  partly  or  wholly,  as  the  case 
may  be,  to  the  producer — that  a  protective  tariff  is  a  tax 
upon  the  people  of  one  class  or  locality  to  benefit  those  of 
another,  and  as  such  is  primarily  unjustifiable,  and  leads 
to  wide  partiality  and  discrimination. 

The  argument  for  free  trade  is  that  there  should  be  no 
restrictions  upon  legimate  industry  or  trade  ;  that  the 
citizen  should  be  allowed  to  produce  that  which  he  can 
produce  most  profitably,  and  to  buy  where  he  can  buy 
cheapest  and  sell  where  he  can  sell  dearest  ;  that  nations 
should  produce  the  things  which  they  can  produce  cheaper 
than  other  nations,  and  buy  of  other  nations  the  things 
which  they  can  not  as  profitably  produce  at  home. 

A  tariff,  at  least  a  high  tariff,  on  articles  which  we  pro- 
duce as  cheaply  as  other  nations,  brings  little  revenue,  and 
as  a  rule,  does  not  benefit  the  nation,but  tends  to  foster  mon- 
opoly, and  is  not  properly  a  protective,  but  a  trust  tariff. 
The  trust  tariff  is  not  always  a  tax  upon  the  consumer. 
Sometimes  it  is  and  sometimes  it  is  not,  but  its  tendency 
is  that  way  and  it  acts  as  a  premium  upon  monopoly. 
When,  by  its  aid,  the  producer  is  enabled  to  pay  freights 
and  then  sell  his  goods  cheaper  in  the  foreign  market  than 
he  sells  at  home,  the  trust  tariff  accomplishes  its  mission. 

By  it  the  manufacturer  or  producer  is  enabled  to  exact  a 
price  for  his  product  above  reasonable  cost  and  profit  of  pro- 
duction, and  this  charge  becomes  a  direct  tax  upon  the  con  - 
sumer  to  enrich  the  producer,  and  the  government  has  used 
its  strong  arm  to  compel  the  many  to  pay  tribute  to  the  few. 


CLOG   TARIFF  59 

A  legitimate  protective  tariff  is  a  beneficent  measure, 
but  a  trust  tariff  becomes  a  curse  to  any  people.  A  tariff 
that  is  practically  prohibitory  in  any  article  which  admits 
of  a  combination  of  producers,  tends  to  establish  and 
maintain  trusts. 

We  also  have  under  the  guise  of  protection  what  should 
be  termed  clog  tariffs,  which  may  be  in  a  measure  pro- 
tective, but  which  to  a  larger  extent  are  a  clog  upon 
industry.  These  are  tariffs  on  raw  or  partly  manufactured 
materials  needed  by  our  manufacturers  and  not  produced 
by  us  in  sufficient  quantity,  and  which,  if  our  manufac- 
turers could  obtain  as  cheaply  as  their  foreign  rivals, 
would  enable  them  to  supply  our  home  market  with  the 
finished  product  and  often  to  make  their  goods  a  profitable 
export. 

While  it  remains  the  duty  of  the  nation,  as  of  the 
individual,  to  provide  first  for  its  own,  the  protective 
policy  should  be  adopted  and  retained  in  cases  where  it 
best  subserves  the  interests  of  all  its  people,  and  in  cases 
where  protection  of  any  particular  industry  does  not 
"  promote  the  general  welfare  "  we  should  have  free  trade. 

The  old,  old  question  of  whether  protection  or  non- 
protection  should  be  the  policy  of  our  government  should 
not  monopolize  the  time  and  thought  of  our  national  law 
makers  so  far  to  the  exclusion  of  questions  of  vastly 
greater  importance  to  the  American  people.  We  should 
not  deal  with  theorieSj  but  with  conditions — not  fancies, 
but  facts. 

One  industry  needs  protection,  another  does  not.  One 
is  a  grinding  monopoly,  another  struggles  for  bare  exis- 
tence. To  apply  the  theory  of  protection  to  any  industry 
regardless  of  its  needs,  its  importance  and  its  merits  is 


60  CLOG  TARIFF 

unwise.  To  apply  the  theory  of  free  trade  to  all  is 
equally  unwise.  But  let  no  citizen  be  alarmed.  The 
country  needs  no  great  or  sudden  change  of  the  tariff, 
and  in  any  event  there  will  be  none.  No  party  and  no 
considerable  proportion  of  the  people  contemplate  such  a 
change.  The  Mills  Bill,  with  a  large  surplus  in  the  treas- 
ury, proposed  a  reduction  of  about  seven  per  cent,  from 
forty-seven  to  forty  per  cent.  The  McKinley  Bill  with 
a  decreasing  surplus  made  a  raise  of  about  the  same  per 
cent.     (In  many  cases  too  high,  no  doubt.) 

The  ignorant,  the  partisan,  the  stalwart,  the  blind  and 
deaf  advocates  of  protection  claim  that  it  always  benefits 
and  is  never  an  injury  to  a  nation — that  it  never  fosters 
wasteful  production,  exorbitant  prices,  or  monopoly. 
Similar  advocates  of  free  trade  or  of  revenue  tariffs  claim 
that  protection  is  always  an  injury  and  never  a  benefit. 
Between  these  two  extremes  there  must  be,  there  always 
has  been  and  always  will  be,  a  mean  of  reason  and  of 
common  sense. 

When  any  industry  has  been  "protected  "  for  a  long 
term  of  years  ;  when  it  has  at  command  ample  capital, 
machinery,  skill  and  experience  ;  when  it  no  longer  needs 
a  nurse  ;  then  if  it  can  not  compete  with  the  foreign  rival 
while  having  the  advantage  of  saving  the  cost  of  trans- 
portation and  importers'  profit,  the  question  of  continu- 
ing its  protection  should  be  well  considered  before  asking 
the  people  to  longer  pay  tribute  to  it.  In  some  cases  it  is 
better  to  still  give  it  the  benefit  of  a  moderate  tariff,  and 
in  others  to  let  it  stand  on  its  own  bottom. 

It  is  a  question  of  compensations  ;  whether,  if  an  in- 
dustry can  not  succeed  without  protection,  the  advantage 
to  be  gained  from  the  capital  and  labor  kept  at  home  and 


A   REASONABLE   POLICY  61 

from  the  added  market  thus  given  to  other  products, 
offsets  the  cost  to  the  people.  In  the  end  it  is  a  question 
of  "  the  survival  of  the  fittest "  and  the  best. 

The  question  of  customs  duties  is  a  business  question, 
and  should  be  considered  from  a  clear,  unbiased,  business 
stand-point  ;  and  not  from  a  partisan,  a  sectional  or  a 
selfish  one. 

A  permanent  tariff  commission,  composed  of  business 
men  who  thoroughly  understand  the  needs  of  production 
and  of  trade,  and  who  are  broad  enough  to  consider  each 
question  on  its  merits  and  on  the  principle  of  promoting 
the  general  welfare  of  all  the  people,  would  be  the  kind 
of  body  to  decide  these  questions  for  us. 

The  tariff  is  not  a  question  to  be  settled,  except  as  to  the 
manner  of  treating  it.  The  tariff  like  "  The  poor  ye 
have  always  with  you."  We  shall  always  be,  at  least  we 
should  always  be,  "  revising  the  tariff."  How  to  revise 
the  tariff  f  Whether  this  or  that  article  shall  be  taxed  ? 
If  taxed  whether  10,  20,  40  or  80  per  cent  ?  Whether 
this  or  that  article  shall  be  added  to  or  taken  from  the 
free  list  ?  These  questions  we  will  always  be  obliged  to 
consider. 

Let  the  American  people  see  the  tariff  question  in  its 
true  light,  giving  it  the  importance  it  demands,  no  more, 
then  there  will  be  no  difficulty  in  properly  treating  it. 
But,  before  that  time  will  come  it  must  be  divested 
of  party  spirit,  of  sectional  jealousy,  of  blind  prejudice 
and  of  selfish  interest. 

An  objection  to  all  taxes  on  imports  is  that  they  are 
taxes  on  what  we  use  and  consume;  on  food,  clothing, 
tools,  etc ;  largely  on  the  most  common  necessaries  of  life, 
and  paid  in  almost  equal  proportion  by  the  poor  and  rich 


62  REVISING   THE   TARIFF 

alike.  A  law  which  compels  the  weak  to  bear  as  much 
burden  as  the  strong,  and  the  poor  to  pay  as  much  tax 
as  the  rich,  is  not  a  just  measure  unless  it  has  advantages 
for  all  the  people  which  more  than  offset  this  defect. 


CHAPTER  XI 

THE  TARIFF  QUESTION  AS  A  SUPREME  ISSUE 

The  question  of  the  tariff,  protective  or  non-protective, 
high  or  low,  is  not  a  question  of  paramount  importance 
to  the  American  people.  It  really  merits  but  a  small 
share  of  time  or  space.  But  for  the  false  position  it  has 
been  made  to  occupy  by  the  old  parties,  it  would  very 
soon  lose  place  as  an  issue. 

As  questions  pertaining  to  the  war  could  no  longer  be 
made  to  serve,  no  other  question  seemed  available  as  the 
leading  issue  for  the  campaign  of  1884  but  that  of  tariff. 
And  so  it  was  brought  out,  aired  and  brushed,  had  some 
new  clothes  made,  was  treated  by  electricity  and  heavily 
stimulated  until  it  had  enough  vitality  infused  into  it  to 
enable  it  to  stand  and  defy  competition. 

And  it  is  now  the  prime  mission  of  the  old  time  serv- 
ing parties  to  stand  as  its  backers  and  see  that  it  holds 
the  boards  against  all  comers  as  long  as  possible.  While 
they  succeed  in  this,  their  "  calling  and  election  is  sure." 
What  else  can  they  do  ?  They  seek  no  new  questions : 
they  champion  no  reforms  :  they  want  no  farther  division 
of  voters  :  they  deprecate  new  issues  :  they  are  content 
with  present  conditions. 


THE   TARIFF   QUESTION    EXALTED 


63 


As  a  chief  issue,  the  tariff  question  has  been  highly- 
exalted  ;  each  side  trying  to  make  black  appear  white, 
or  white  appear  black  as  the  case  might  be.  The  one 
claiming  that  what  we  need  is  a  high,  practically  pro- 
hibitive tariff,  and  that  that  is  "  protection  to  American 
Industry  ; "  the  other  that  we  should  have  a  tariff  for 
revenue  with  protection  as  a  mere  incident.  The  nation 
needs  neither  the  one  nor  the  other.  It  does  need  such 
protection  as  shields  industries  which  need  protection, 
and  yields  needed  revenue,  but  does  not  tend  to  encourage 
monopolies  or  trusts,  to  unduly  enrich  the  manufacturer 
at  the  expense  of  the  consumer,  or  unduly  protect  the  pro- 
ducer at  a  greater  cost  to  the  manufacturer  or  the  nation. 
And  this  is  ivhat  we  would  have  if  the  question  were  non- 
partisan. 

And  so  we  have  two  sets  of  advocates,  who,  lawyer-like, 
strive  to  make  the  worse  appear  the  better  reason,  and,  as 
far  as  possible,  to  distract  the  jury.  The  tariff  "  has  the 
floor."  There  is  no  possible  prospect  for  any  other  cause 
while  it  absorbs  attention.  So  it  is  not  a  matter  of  choice. 
We  must  attack  it.  We  must  wrestle  with  it.  We  must 
overcome  it  and  hurl  it  from  its  unmerited  position 
before  we  can  secure  any  hearing  for  other  questions  which 
press  for  solution.  We  must  take  it  up  and  examine  its 
fabric  to  learn  of  what  material  it  is  composed.  Most  of 
the  tariff  discussion  is  made  up  of  certain  statements, 
comparisons  and  conclusions  in  regard  to  things  which 
have  little  bearing  upon  the  subject  and  yet  become  the 
stock  arguments  and  are  made  to  do  duty  on  all  occasions. 
I  will  give  the  principal  ones. 

1.  Wages  are  much  higher  in  2.  Wages  are  much  higher  in 
the  United  States,  which  has   .  England,  which  has  free  trade, 

i  (JNIVEBSITY 


64 


STOCK   TARIFF   ARGUMENTS 


protection,  than  in  England, 
.which  has  free  trade,  conse- 
quently protection  makes  high 
wages  and  free  trade  makes  low 
wages. 

3.  Wages  are  much  higher 
in  the  United  States  now  under 
a  high  tariff  than  they  were 
forty  years  ago  under  a  low 
tariff.  Consequently  high  tariff 
causes  high  wages  and  low  tariff 
causes  low  wages. 

5.  The  ''  free  trade  toilers  " 
of  England  emigrate  to  the 
United  States  in  order  to  get 
better  wages  and  a  chance  to 
improve  their  condition ,  which 
shows  conclusively  that  free 
trade  depresses  and  degrades  a 
people  while  protection  lifts 
them  to  a  higher  plane  of  civil- 
ization. 

7.  Manufactured  articles  are 
much  cheaper  in  the  United 
States  now  under  a  high  tariff 
than  they  were  forty  years  ago 
under  a  low  tariff,  which  shows 
that  a  high  tariff  gives  us  cheap 
goods  and  a  low  tariff  makes 


than  in  Germany  and  France 
which  have  protection,  there- 
fore free  trade  makes  high 
wages  and  protection  makes 
low  wages. 

4.  Wages  are  much  higher 
in  England  now  under  free 
trade  than  they  were  fifty  years 
ago  under  protection,  therefore 
free  trade  causes  high  wages 
and  protection  causes  low 
wages. 

6.  The  poor,  unpaid,  "pro- 
tected ' '  mill  hands  of  Germany 
and  France  emigrate  to  free 
trade  England  in  order  to  get 
bfttter  wages  and  to  find  the 
better  conditions  where  trade 
is  unrestricted, which  shows  be- 
yond a  doubt  that "  protection , ' ' 
so  called,  hampers  and  grinds  a 
people  while  free  trade  im- 
proves their  condition. 

8.  Goods  are  much  cheaper 
in  England  now  with  free  trade 
than  they  were  under  protec- 
tion. Thus  we  see  that  protec- 
tion made  high  priced  goods 
and  free  trade  gave  them  cheap- 
er products, 
things  dear. 

The  advocates  of  protection  or  non-protection,  as  the 
case  may  be,  in  using  either  of  the  cases  here  cited  as  an 
argument,  assume  that  the  kind  and  rate  of  tariff  in  a 
country  determines  the  rate  of  wages,  the  prices  of  goods, 
the  condition  of  the  laborer,  and  the  "oneral  vv^elfare  of 
the  people.     He  is  oblivious  to  all  differences  of  area,  of 


TARIFF    DOES   NOT   CONTROL   WAGES  65 

time,  of  climate,  of  agricultural  and  mineral  wealth,  of 
inventions  and  machinery,  of  ability  and  thrift  of  the 
people,  and  of  the  many  conditions  which  affect  the  pro- 
ductive power  and  material  prosperity  of  a  nation. 

Wages  are  much  higher  in  Germany  than  in  Italy, 
higher  in  France  than  in  Germany,  and  still  much  higher 
in  free  trade  England  than  in  those  and  all  other  coun- 
tries of  Europe  which  have  protection.  And  wages  are 
still  higher  in  the  United  States  than  in  England.  And 
these  facts  sufficiently  show  that  the  tariff  of  a  country 
does  not  determine  its  rate  of  wages,  the  prices  of  its 
goods,  or  the  condition  of  its  people.  It  is  but  one  of 
many  factors. 

Besides,  the  wage  is  one  thing  and  what  a  man  can  buy 
with  his  wages  is  another.  A  wage  of  two  dollars  a  day 
may  be  no  more  in  purchasing  power  in  one  country  or 
period,  than  one  dollar  and  a  half  or  even  one  dollar  in 
another. 

And  remember  that  labor  is  not  protected.  The  man- 
ufacturer may  be,  but  he  employs  those  who  will  do  his 
work  for  the  least  money.  They  come  to  us  from  Germany, 
from  Italy,  from  Canada,  from  the  corners  of  the  earth. 
There  are  no  bars — no  gates.     In  labor  there  is  free  trade. 

Economists  talk  of  the  "  iron  law  of  wages."  It  means 
nothing.  There  is  no  law  of  prices  in  anything  where 
there  is  free  trade,  except  the  law  of  supply  and  demand. 
Men  buy  where  they  can  buy  cheapest  and  sell  where  they 
can  sell  dearest.  The  employer  considers  not  whether  his 
hireling  dines  on  bread  and  meat  or  on  mush  and  pota- 
toes ;  whether  he  wears  denims  or  tweeds  ;  whether  he 
dwells  in  a  house  or  a  hovel  ;  but,  how  cheaply  can  he 
hire  him.     You  say  the  employer  is  human  and  con- 


66 


HISTORICAL   ARGUMENTS 


siders  the  comfort  of  his  men.  Yes,  sometimes.  Usually 
the  employer  is  a  corporation,  which  has  a  body  and  a 
head  but  no  soul. 

Advocates  of  high  and  of  low  tariff  also  cite  us  to 
different  periods  in  our  history,  claiming  that  the  con- 
ditions either  of  prosperity  or  adversity  were  owing  to 
the  kind  of  tariff  in  force  for  the  period.  The  principal 
historical  facts  used  as  arguments  are  given  below  : 

9.  Following  the  protective  10.  The  reduction  of  the  tariff 
tariffs    of    1824-28    came    the      in  1888  gave  a  decided  impetus 


"Compromise  tariff"  of  1833, 
which  provided  for  a  reduction 
of  ten  per  cent  every  two  years. 
This  reduction  produced  a  de- 
pression which  finally  culmin- 
ated in  the  great  financial  dis- 
aster of  1837,  thus  showing  to 
the  people  the  dire  effects  of  a 
low  tariff. 


11.  The  "free  trade  tariff" 
of  1846,during  a  period  of  eleven 
years  led  up  to  and  produced  its 
usual  results,  by  bringing  on 
the  great  financial  panic  of 
1857. 


to  all  kinds  of  business  through- 
out the  States.  The  panic  of 
1837  was  caused  by  wild  cat 
money  and  wild  speculation, 
begun  in  a  time  of  great  pros- 
perity. Mr.  Blaine,  the  great 
advocate  of  protection  said : 
**  The  years  1834, 1835  and  1836 
were  distinguished  by  all  man- 
ner of  business  hazard,  there 
was  a  great  stimulus  to  manu- 
facturing and  to  trade,  which 
finally  assumed  the  form  of 
dangerous  speculation."  Henry 
Clay  said  it  was  speculation  in 
land  and  the  expansion  of  the 
currency  that  produced  the 
panic  of  1837,  and  that  the  re- 
duction of  the  tariff  had  noth- 
ing to  do  with  it. 

12.  The  reduction  of  the 
tariff  in  1846  was  followed  by 
ten  years  of  unexampled  pros- 
perity, so  much  so  that  the 
people  again  went  wild  with 
speculation  and  this  caused  the 
great  panic  of  1857. 


HISTORICAL    ARGUMENTS 


67 


13.  It  is  true  that  the  tariff 
of  1846  was  followed  by  ten 
years  of  prosperity,  but  this 
was  not  caused  by  the  low  tariff 
but  by  various  * '  adventitious 
circumstances,"  namely,  the 
war  with  Mexico,  the  Irish 
famine,  the  discovery  of  gold  in 
California,  and  the  Crimean 
war ;  but  when  these  had  passed 
and  the  people  were  left  with 
their  ordinary  resources,  then 
the  disaster  came. 


15.  For  the  last  thirty  years 
the  United  States  has  had  pro- 
tection while  England  has  had 
free  trade.  During  that  period 
of  time  our  advancement  in 
material  growth,  population 
and  wealth  has  been  remark- 
able, greatly  exceeding  that  of 
free  trade  England,  which  fur- 
nishes undeniable  proof  that 
our  prosperity  has  been  the 
legitimate  outgrowth  of  our 
protective  system. 


14.  In  1846  the  represent- 
atives in  Congress  from  New 
England,  at  that  time  the  prin- 
cipal manufacturing  district  of 
the  country,  almost  unanimous- 
ly opposed  the  reduction  of  the 
tariff.  But  after  this  reduction 
had  been  in  operation  eleven 
years,  the  same  representation 
voted  almost  unanimously  for 
a  further  reduction  from  an 
average  of  twenty-eight  per 
cent  to  an  average  of  twenty- 
one  per  cent,  which  shows  that 
they  thought  the  reduction  had 
been  a  benefit  and  not  an  injury 
to  the  country. 

16.  England  with  free  trade 
has  increased  more  rapidly  in 
population  and  wealth  in  the 
last  thirty  years  than  have 
France,  Germany  and  Italy 
under  protection,  which  shows 
conclusively  that  her  prosperity 
has  been  caused  by  free  trade. 
If  our  prosperity  for  thirty 
years  has  been  caused  by  pro- 
tection, what  caused  the  great 
financial  and  business  depres- 
sion from  1873  to  1879  (the  panic 
of  '77,  )  and  what  has  caused 
the  great  increase  in  farm  mort- 
gages, and  in  the  proportion  of 
tenant  farmers, and  the  decrease 
in  the  value  of  farm  lands? 


Any   one   of  these  arguments  (?)    is   sufficient   upon 
which  to  base  a  broad  and  eloquent  address,  and  be  a 


68  OBLIVIOUSNESS   OF   ADVOCATES 

final  answer  to  all  grounds  of  controversy  I  It  is  a  pal- 
pable instance  of  blind  obliviousness  to  all  the  facts  in 
the  case  but  one,  and  that  the  one  the  lawyer  magnifies. 
Especially  do  the  advocates  of  protection  delight  to 
enlarge  and  amplify  upon  the  boundless  resources  and  the 
marvelous  growth,  prosperity  and  wealth  of  the  great 
American  nation,  and  to  claim  it  as  the  result  of  our 
protective  system.  As  put  by  Mr.  Blaine  :  "  Can  Mr. 
Gladstone  show  a  parallel  ?  '^  Any  good  "  Fourth-of- July  " 
speech  would  serve  for  an  argument  in  this  line. 

As  a  fine  sample  of  resounding  and  effulgent  eloquence 
in  the  halls  of  Congress  on  this  theme,  1  give  the  follow- 
ing from  the  great  protection  leader,  Mr.  Thomas  B.  Reed, 
in  his  speech  on  the  Mills  bill. 

"  Whoever  takes  down  the  map  of  1860  and  the  map  of 
1888  will  look  upon  the  most  wondrous  growth  that  ever 
the  sun  shone  on  in  all  its  myriad  courses  around  the 
earth.  It  is  a  marvelous  spectacle.  It  is  not  alone  the 
great  cities,  born  like  exhalations,  which  flash  prosperity 
over  the  great  lakes,over  the  broad  plains,  over  the  mighty 
fields  rich  with  verdure  or  teeming  with  uncounted  harv- 
ests. It  is  the  fact  that  all  this  wealth  and  prosperity  has 
been  so  shaped  that  it  seeks  the  comfort  not  of  the  rich, 
not  of  the  lounging  owner  of  fixed  income,  not  of  the 
pampered  minion  of  governmental  power,  but  of  the  plain 
people  whom  Abraham  Lincoln  loved,  and  who  are  of 
right  the  chief  glory  of  this  Republic." 

And  this  is  all  owing  to  our  "  protection  to  American 
industry.'^  That  term  has  a  wonderfully  attractive,  tak- 
ing, assuring  ring.  It  shows  that  protection  is  the  sine 
qua  non.  It  seems  to  take  the  honest  son  of  toil  by  the 
hand  and  lift  him  clear  out  of  his  slough  of  despond. 
It  shows  him  that  protection  seeks  first  his  uplift  and 
betterment.     It  redounds  not  to  the  profit  of  the  rich. 


"  PROTECTION   TO    AMERICAN    INDUSTRY  "  69 

("  Protection  has  proved  a  distributer  of  great  sums  of 
money,  not  an  agency  for  amassing  it  in  the  hands  of  the 
few."     Blaine.) 

Millions  of  sturdy  toilers  have  been  induced  by  that 
assuring  song  of  "  protection  to  American  industry  "  to 
give  a  vote  to  help  the  "  protected  "  millionaire  owners  of 
copper  mines,  and  borax  trusts,  and  white  lead  combines, 
and  pine  forests,  and  glass  works,  and  steel  rail  mills  to 
add  another  million  to  their  limited  store  so  that  the 
families  of  these  poor  millionaires  should  not  come  to 
want! 

We  need  not  question  whether  or  no  our  tariff  has  been 
a  chief  cause  of  our  prosperity.  We  need  not  search  for 
causes  for  our  prosperity.  We  see  them  on  every  hand. 
Rather  should  we  ask,  why  the  adversity  ?  and  is  the 
tariff  one  of  the  causes  of  our  adversity  ? 

With  our  diverse,  our  immense,  our  limitless  natural 
resources  of  valleys  and  plains,  forests  and  mines  ;  our 
active  and  enterprising  people  ;  our  wonderful  inventions ; 
our  multiplied  machines  by  which  one  man  does  the  work 
of  three,  or  of  ten,  or  of  thirty,  and  with  steam  and  elec- 
tricity harnessed  to  the  wheels  ;  with  our  ability  to  pro- 
duce vastly  beyond  the  capacity  of  any  other  people  on 
the  globe  ;  the  question  which  should  stare  us  in  the  face, 
which  should  press,  and  grind  and  burn  for  solution  is, 
"  Why,  with  all  these  resources  do  we  fail  to  provide  for 
so  many  of  our  people  ?"  Why  does  the  New  York  sew- 
ing woman,  to  save  body  and  soul  from  perdition,  have  to 
''  wear  her  fingers  to  the  quick"  for  seventy  cents  a  day? 
Why  the  thousands  who  would  work,  but  find  none  ?  Why 
the  hunger  and  want  ?  Why  do  farms  go  under  the  ham- 
mer by  the  thousands  ?     Why  ? 


70  TARIFFS   THAT    ARE   TOO    HIGH 

The  politician  cries  peace,  peace,  when  there  is  no  peace  ; 
he  tells  how  great,  how  prosperous,  how  happy  we  are  1 
Great  is  the  Trust,  prosperous  the  Plutocrat,  and  happy 
he  who  gathereth  the  farms  with  his  mortgage  "  as  a  hen 
gathereth  her  chickens  under  her  wings  I " 

Among  the  things  about  this  vexed  tariff  question 
which  it  is  difficult  for  a  lay-man  to  understand,  is,  why, 
if  the  country  was  highly  prospered  from  1846  to  1857 
under  an  average  tariff  of  twenty-eight  per  cent,  we  now 
need  tariffs  as  high  as  shown  in  the  following  list  ? 
Window  glass  -  -  123  to  138  per  cent 
Pocket  knives    -        -        -  75      " 

Knit  underwear     -         -         112  to  147       " 
Blankets,  flannels  and  hats,  110       " 

Ready-made  clothing     -         -  84      *' 

Dress  goods        -        -        -      73  to  110      " 
Woolen  yarns        -         -         -  100      " 

It  seems  to  be  a  sound  proposition,  that  any  industry 
which  needs  a  tariff  of  one  hundred  per  cent  to  sustain  it, 
is  not  worth  sustaining.  It  does  not  pay  us  to  manufacture 
an  article  which  costs  us  two  dollars  to  produce,  when  we 
can  buy  such  an  article  of  foreign  make  equally  as  good 
for  one  dollar.  That  means  that  the  farmer  must  pay 
two  bushels  of  wheat  for  an  article  worth  but  one  bushel, 
in  order  to  "  protect  American  industry." 

Reciprocity,  or  mutual  protection  with  other  countries, 
is  a  wise  device  of  the  protectionist.  By  pushing  this 
measure  to  the  front,  Mr.  Blaine,  in  1888,  scored  a  victory 
for  the  republican  party,  while  his  stalwart,  high  tariff 
compeers  were  doing  their  "  level  best "  to  "  pluck  defeat 
from  the  jaws  of  victory  "  by  talking  of  high  tariff. 
Among  the  most  common  fallacies  used  as  an  argument 


71 

by  the  advocates  of  free  trade  (and  of  which  Mr.  Roger 
Q.  Mills  is  a  most  able  advocate  and  as  stalwart  on  that 
extreme  as  Mr.  Thomas  B.  Reed  is  on  the  other,)  is 
that  the  prosperity  of  a  nation  is  shown  by  the  extent  of 
its  foreign  commerce,  and  that  the  more  we  huy  of  foreign 
nations  the  more  we  are  able  to  sell  to  them.  As  well  say 
that  the  prosperity  of  the  farmer  is  shown  by  the  amount 
of  his  trade  at  the  stores — that  the  more  he  buys  of  the 
merchant  the  more  he  will  be  able  to  sell  to  him. 

The  prosperity  of  the  nation  and  of  the  individual 
depends  upon  skill,  ability  and  enterprise  in  production 
and  sale,  and  upon  economy  in  consumption  and  purchase. 
To  supply  as  far  as  possible  the  home  needs  by  home 
production,  to  produce  as  much  as  possible  for  sale,  and 
to  buy  as  little  as  may  be  for  home  consumption,  is  the 
true,  plain  and  only  way  for  the  individual  or  the  nation 
to  acquire  a  surplus.  To  sell  much  and  to  buy  little  is 
the  highway  to  wealth. 

Another  "  free  trade  fallacy  "  is,  that  the  reason  why 
articles  are  produced  cheaply  in  this  country  with  higher 
wages  than  rules  abroad,  is  that  high  priced  labor  accom- 
plishes much  more  than  low  priced — that  our  mechanics 
produce  enough  more  to  pay  for  the  difference  in  wages. 

It  does  not  appear  that  the  expert  mechanics  imported 
from  Germany  to  set  up  and  run  the  machinery  of  the 
Chino  Beet  Sugar  Factory  do  any  more  or  better  work 
here  than  they  did  at  home  with  less  wages.  And  we 
found  that  the  carpenters  did  just  as  good  a  day's  work 
in  Pasadena  in  1889  at  two  dollars  per  day  as  they  had 
done  in  "  boom  times  "  for  four  dollars  a  day.  A  good 
article  is  always  better  than  a  poor  one,  but  it  does  not 
make  the  article  better  to  increase  the  price. 


72  OPINIONS   OF   EMINENT   EEPUBLICANS 

In  our  past  history,  before  the  tariff  question  was  made 
the  supreme  issue,  we  did  not  lack  for  able  statesmen  to 
advocate  a  reasonable,  but  not  prohibitory,  protective 
tariff.  Among  the  ablest  of  these  was  James  A.  Garfield, 
who  expressed  himself  in  Congress  as  follows  : 

"We  can  find  ample  grounds  for  the  sufficient  pro- 
tection of  American  manufacturers  without  distorting 
the  history  of  our  country. 

"  The  decade  from  1850  to  1860  was  one  of  peace  and 
general  prosperity.  If  the  low  tariff  and  insufficient 
volume  of  currency  of  1860,  caused  the  alleged  distress 
of  that  year,  how  will  he  account  for  what  he  admits,  the 
great  distress  of  1877,  with  a  much  higher  tariff  and  three 
times  the  volume  of  currency  of  1860  ? 

"  Duties  should  be  so  high  that  our  manufacturers  can 
fairly  compete  with  the  foreign  products,  but  not  so  high 
as  to  enable  them  to  drive  out  the  foreign  article  and 
enjoy  a  monopoly  of  the  trade,  and  regulate  the  prices  as 
they  please.     This  is  my  doctrine  of  protection." 

John  A.  Logan  said  in  Congress:  "When  a  gentleman 
stands  upon  this  floor  and  tells  me  this  high,  this  extraor- 
dinarily high  tariff  is  for  protection  of  laboring  men,  I 
tell  him  that  I  do  not  understand  how  he  can  substantiate 
such  a  theory." 

And  President  Grant,  in  a  message  to  Congress, 
referring  to  the  tariff  on  wool,  said  : 

"  All  duty  paid  on  such  articles  (raw  materials)  goes 
directly  to  the  cost  of  the  article  when  manufactured  here 
and  must  be  paid  by  the  consumer.  These  duties  not 
only  come  from  the  consumer  at  home,  but  act  as  a  pro- 
tection to  foreign  manufacturers  in  our  own  and  distant 
markets." 

Senator  Wilson  of  Massachusetts  said  :  "  Since  the 
reduction  of  the  duties  on  the  raw  materials  in  England, 
since  wool  was  admitted  free,  her  woolen  manufactures 


FREE    RAW    MATERIALS 


73 


have  so  increased,  so  prospered,  that  the  production  of 
native  wool  increased  more  than  one  hundred  per  cent. 
The  experience  of  England,  France  and  Belgium  dem- 
onstrates the  wisdom  of  that  policy  which  makes  the  raw 
material  duty  free." 

Protection  to  wool  has  been  the  great  inducement  with 
many  farmers  to  support  the  high  tariff  policy.  A  farmer 
with  a  small  flock  of  sheep  would  vote  for  a  high  tariff 
which  cost  him  every  year  more  than  his  flock  was  worth. 

The  case  of  the  wool  tariff  is  a  similar  one  to  that  of 
the  tariff  on  hides.  The  advantage  to  the  leather  and 
shoe  industries  and  to  the  country  has  been  so  great  since 
hides  were  put  on  the  free  list  as  to  vastly  overbalance 
the  small  gain  to  the  ranch  man  from  the  tariff  on  hides. 
We  get  heavy  hides  for  sole  leather  from  South  America 
very  cheap,  and  this  enables  our  manufacturers  to  make 
cheap  shoes.  In  1871,  with  a  tariff  on  hides,  our  exports 
of  leather  amounted  to  only  $2,000,000  in  value,  while  in 
1883,  with  hides  on  the  free  list,  our  exports  of  leather 
amounted  to  $34,000,000. 

Our  woolen  industries  are  much  hampered  by  the 
tariff  on  wool.  If  our  manufacturers  could  get  the  cheap, 
coarse  wools  from  South  America,  and  other  wools  which 
we  can  not  produce  but  need  in  our  manufactures,  as 
cheaply  as  their  foreign  rivals  buy  them,  it  would  give  a 
great  impetus  to  our  woolen  industries  which  are  usually 
not  prosperous,  and  save  the  American  people  millions 
of  dollars  each  year. 

We  now  tax  the  raw  material,  and  pay  good  prices  for 
the  finished  product  of  English  woolen  mills,  and  also  in 
this  way  nurse  the  "  shoddy  "  industry.  But  our  high 
tariff  leaders  think  it  necessary  to  protect  wool  in  order 


74 


WAR   TAXES   CONTINUED 


to  keep  the  farmers  on  the  high  tariff  side,  and  to  keep 
Pennsylvania  and  Ohio  in  the  Republican  column, 

Mr.  Blaine,  as  a  historian,  said  :  "  The  tariff  of  1846 
was  yielding  abundant  revenue,  and  the  business  of  the 
country  was  in  a  flourishing  condition.  Money  became 
very  abundant  after  the  year  1849.  Large  enterprises 
were  undertaken,  speculation  was  prevalent,  and  for  a 
considerable  period  the  prosperity  of  the  country  was 
general  and  apparently  genuine.  The  principles  embodied 
in  the  tariff  of  1846  seemed  for  a  time  to  be  so  entirely 
vindicated  and  approved  that  resistance  to  it  ceased,  not 
only  among  the  people,  but  among  the  protective  econo- 
mists. So  general  was  this  acquiescence  that  in  1856  a 
protective  tariff  was  not  suggested  or  even  hinted  by  any 
one  of  the  three  parties  which  presented  presidential 
candidates." 

This  period  of  low  tariff  continued  until  after  the  war 
began.  A  system  of  high  tariff  and  high  taxes  was  then 
instituted  as  a  '^  war  measure."  Since  the  war,  those 
engaged  in  the  "  protected  industries  "  having  found  that 
a  high  tariff  was  a  good  thing  for  them,  have  "  cried  for 
more."  And  so  far,  like  a  lot  of  spoiled  children,  they 
have  been  getting  nearly  all  they  cried  for. 


PART    III. 


REMEDIES  FOR  DEFECTIVE  GOVERNMENT, 
FOR  FAULTY  EDUCATION,  FOR  SOCIAL 
EVILS,  FOR  BURDENS  OF  OPPRESS- 
IVE MONOPOLIES  AND  INEQUIT- 
ABLE TAXES,  AND  FOR   UN- 
EQUAL DISTRIBUTION 
AND  WASTE  OF 
WEALTH. 


CHAPTER  XII 
MORAL  TRAINING  IN  THE  SCHOOLS 

In  view  of  the  many  dishonest  and  vicious  practices 
which  characterize  our  politics  and  government,  and  our 
social  and  business  life,  we  are  lead  to  look  for  a 
permanent  remedy  for  these  great  evils;  and  in  doing  so 
find  it  necessary  to  go  back  to  first  causes  and  primary 
principles. 

"  A  fountain  can  rise  no  higher  than  its  source."  A 
government  can  be  no  better  than  the  governing  power. 
A  government  by  the  people  will  be  no  better  than  the 
people  who  govern. 

The  state  must  again  undertake  the  work  of  securing 
a  better  tone  of  morality,  truth  and  honor  throughout 
the  social  fabric,  by  training  the  pupils  in  the  schools  in 
such  principles. 

In  the  earlier  years  of  the  republic  the  government 
was  administered  by  men  whose  rules  of  conduct  were 
founded  upon  the  decalogue  and  the  golden  rule.  Stern 
and  exact  justice  was  the  order,  and  purity  and  honesty 
of  purpose  the  criterion  in  the  administration  of  public 
affairs.  Nor  was  there  lack  of  ability  and  statesmanship. 
The  faults  were  mainly  errors  of  judgment  through 
prejudice  or  defective  knowledge,  and  were  usually  in 
defence  of  that  which  was  deemed  to  be  a  just  cause,  or 
in  opposition  to  that  which  was  thought  to  be  subversive 
of  good  order  and  of  a  righteous  government. 

77 


78  THE   BIBLE   AS   A  TEXT   BOOK 

In  those  times,  as  now,  religious  teaching  was  the 
main  dependence  for  training  the  young  in  principles  of 
purity  and  honesty  of  purpose.  Then,  religious  teaching 
was  accepted  as  the  only  source  of  moral  instruction, 
and  was  upheld  by  the  state.  The  Bible  was  a  text  book 
of  the  school. 

In  our  zeal  for  maintaining  the  right  of  private  judg- 
ment in  matters  of  religious  opinion,  and  in  opposing  any 
tendency  to  the  union  of  church  and  state,  we  have 
omitted  religious  teaching  in  the  schools. 

But  in  expunging  the  Bible  from  the  schools  we  have 
made  the  most  serious  blunder  of  not  providing  anything  to 
take  its  place  as  a  means  of  moral  training.  The  whole 
subject  of  ethical  teaching  has  been  practically  relegated 
to  the  home  and  the  church. 

Much  is  done  by  home  training,  and  much  by  church, 
Sunday  school  and  other  moral  agencies  to  give  instruc- 
tion to  the  young  in  principles  of  virtue  and  honor;  but 
there  remains  a  great  throng  of  children  and  youth 
growing  up  to  manhood  and  womanhood  with  little  or  no 
instruction  in  principles  of  virtue,  and  much  teaching  in 
vice.  The  state  is  but  an  onlooker  or  silent  partner — is 
neutral  or  worse.  It  supplies  schools  of  vice,  in  saloons 
and  similar  agencies,  but  not  schools  of  virtue.  In  this, 
the  most  vital  part  of  education,  that  which  forms 
character  and  determines  whether  the  individual  shall 
become  an  upright,  honorable  and  useful  citizen,  or  an 
indifferent  or  vicious  one,  the  state  stands  at  zero. 

It  is  amazing  that  we  should  have  gone  on  in  such 
sublime  indifference  to  this  momentous  question,  leaving 
wholly  to  chance  or  private  beneficence  a  work  which 
should  be  among  the  first  duties  of  the  state,  knowing 


LACK   OF   MORAL   TRAINING  79 

that  but  a  part,  and  in  some  localities  a  small  part  of 
the  young  are  reached  by  these  private  agencies. 

Some  states  provide  for  moral  instruction  in  the  schools. 
Theoretically,  perhaps  all  do.  At  least  they  have  incor- 
porated in  the  school  law  that  instruction  in  good  morals 
and  manners  shall  be  given.  But,  in  most  cases  the 
state  makes  no  adequate  provision  for  such  teaching.  It 
furnishes  no  text  book,  adopts  no  system,  lays  out  no 
course  of  instruction.  The  matter  and  method  are  left 
wholly  to  the  teacher,  who  may  devote  a  greater  or  less 
time  to  disquisitions  on  moral  philosophy,  on  historic 
religions,  or  on  whatever  he  or  she  may  fancy,  provided 
no  religion  is  taught. 

Perhaps  this  indifference  of  the  people  in  regard  to  the 
question  of  moral  instruction  in  the  schools  is  partly  ac- 
counted for  by  the  somewhat  prevalent  idea  and  one 
which  has  been  sometimes  promulgated  by  Christian 
teachers,  that  there  is  no  other  source  of  moral 
teaching,  or  guide  to  upright  character  except  the  Bible. 
The  church  is  the  great  agency  for  carrying  forward 
moral  reforms  throughout  the  civilized  world ;  but  it  is 
not  always  first  in  such  reforms  or  boldest  in  their  de- 
fense; nor  does  the  Bible  contain  the  only  embodiment 
of  a  moral  code.  All  the  principles  which  go  to  make 
right  character  are  fundamental.  They  depend  upon 
no  theological  code  or  form  of  belief.  Religious  teaching 
inculcates  these  principles,  and  the  church  is  a  potent 
agency  in  molding  character  to  an  adherence  to  them. 
But  such  principles  may  be  taught  and  be  made  effective 
in  forming  right  character  without  other*  influence  than 
that  of  the  teachers  and  associates  who  are  guided  by 
them. 


80  FORMATION  OF  GOOD  CHARACTER 

But  we  are  told  that  we  cannot  form  character  in  the 
schools ;  that  we  can  only  inform  the  mind  as  to  what  is 
right  and  what  is  wrong — proper  or  improper,  and  that 
the  formation  of  character  depends  almost  wholly  upon 
home  training  and  example  and  upon  one's  choice  of 
action  through  life.  As  well  say  that  character  is  not 
formed  by  home  training  as  to  say  it  is  not  formed  by 
school  training.  Character  is  formed  by  all  the  teaching 
and  all  the  influences  that  surround  us. 

Some  children  have  excellent  home  training,  many 
have  not.  In  many  cases  the  teaching  and  associations 
of  the  schools  have  an  influence  as  great  as  those  of  the 
home,  and  it  is  the  duty  of  the  state  to  see  that  that 
teaching  and  influence  shall  be  potent  in  forming  right 
character. 

The  following  marked  examples  of  the  formation  of 
good  character  by  proper  moral  training,  and  even  of  such 
formation  from  the  worst  classes  of  subjects,  taken  from 
"■  Moral  Education,''  an  excellent  work,  by  Prof.  Joseph 
Rodes  Buchanan,  show  what  may  be  accomplished  by 
such  training  much  better  than  any  argument  could 
possibly  do.     He  says  : 

"  Moral  education  takes  in  criminals  and  turns  them 
out  good  citizens,  by  placing  them  in  a  moral  atmos- 
phere, and  keeping  them  in  it  till  their  whole  nature  is 
changed,  just  as  men  are  made  criminals  by  placing 
them  in  a  criminal  atmosphere  and  keeping  them  there 
till  they  are  saturated  with  baseness." 

"  One  of  the  most  conspicuous  examples  ever  known 
of  the  power  of  moral  education  in  redeeming  and  elevat- 
ing criminals  was  at  the  Rauhen  Hau^,  near  Hamburg, 
Germany.  The  place  was  a  prison  when  Mr.  Wichern 
took  charge  of  it.  He  threw  down  the  high  walls  and 
took  away  the  bars  and  bolts.     He  made  the  children 


EXAMPLES   OF    MORAL   TRAINING  81 

love  him,  and  he  converted  them  into  estimable  charac- 
ters. Horace  Mann  says  :  " '  The  effect  attested  the  al- 
most omnipotent  power  of  generosity  and  affection. 
Children  from  seven  or  eight  to  fifteen  or  sixteen  years 
of  age,  in  many  of  whom  early  and  loathsome  vices  had 
nearly  obliterated  the  stamp  of  humanity,  were  trans- 
formed not  only  into  useful  members  of  society,  but  in- 
to characters  that  endeared  themselves  to  all  within  the 
sphere  of  their  acquaintance.' 

"  We  have  at  this  time  in  the  State  of  Ohio  a  reform- 
atory institution,  the  State  Reform  School,  near  Lancas- 
ter, under  the  management  of  Mr.  G.  W.  Howe,  which 
is  a  wonderful  example  of  what  moral  power  can  accom- 
plish. My  first  knowledge  of  this  institution  was 
obtained  by  meeting  Mr.  Howe  at  the  Prison  Reform 
Congress,  in  St.  Louis,  in  May,  1874.  He  told  a  graphic 
story  of  his  labors  in  attempting  to  detain  and  educate 
young  convicts  on  an  open  farm  surrounded  by  the 
forest,  offering  every  facility  for  escape.  His  heart  sank 
in  momentary  despair  and  alarm  when  on  a  dark  night 
the  boys,  having  just  come  from  the  chapel,  started  off 
with  a  sudden  impulse  into  the  woods,  and  left  him 
alone  to  meditate  on  disappointments.  It  was  not  long, 
however,  after  their  voices  had  been  lost  before  he  heard 
them  again  emerging  from  the  forest,  with  the  cry,  'We've 
got  him  I  We've  got  him  I '  A  rough  young  convict, 
recently  arrived,  thought  the  dark  night  offered  a  fine 
opportunity  to  escape,  and  started  off  at  full  speed.  His 
comrades  pursued  to  capture  him,  and  brought  him  back. 
Such  was  the  general  sentiment  of  the  school  that  the 
boys  would  not  favor  or  tolerate  running  away." 

'^  In  this  institution  none  are  received  but  youths  con- 
victed of  crime.  The  report  of  the  board  of  commission- 
ers for  1868  says  :  ^ 

"  '  Of  those  admitted  this  year,  thirty  are  under  twelve 
years  of  age,  and  ninety  are  from  eleven  to  sixteen. 
These  juvenile  offenders  are,  most  of  them,  charged  with 
grievous  crimes  and  misdemeanors.     A  boy  of  eleven  is 


82  AN   OHIO   REFORM   SCHOOL 

sent  for  arson ;  another  of  twelve  for  burglary  and  grand 
larceny;  and  another  of  fourteen  for  robbing  the  United 
States  Mail.  Many  of  our  boys  have  been  the  slaves  of 
the  vilest  habits  and  violent  passions,  of  low  and  debas- 
ing propensities.  Among  our  inmates  may  be  found 
every  shade  of  character,  and  every  grade  of  intellect. 
The  unconquered  will,  the  ungoverned  passion,  the  de- 
praved appetite,  with  confirmed  evil  habits,  suggest  the 
difficulties  and  discouragements  in  regard  to  their 
reformation.' 

"  Since  the  establishment  of  this  reform  school,  in 
1858,  about  two  thousand  of  these  criminal  youths  have 
been  received,and  all  but  a  very  small  percentage  have  been 
restored  to  virtue,  having  earned  an  honorable  discharge 
by  good  deportment  for  a  sufficient  length  of  time  to 
Satisfy  their  teachers  that  they  were  really  reformed." 

"  The  reform  school  occupies  nearly  twelve  hundred 
acres  of  elevated,  hilly,  healthy  but  not  productive  land, 
six  miles  south  of  Lancaster,  with  buildings  capable  of 
accommodating  about  five  hundred  boys. 

*'  In  this  healthy  and  pleasant  home  they  are  received 
and  managed  with  unwearied  kindness  and  love,  and 
carried  through  a  complete  course  of  moral  instruction 
perhaps  the  most  complete  and  efficient  that  has  ever 
been  successfully  applied  on  so  large  a  scale. 

"  So  perfect  is  the  system  that,  although  they  receive 
so  many  young  criminals  from  jails,  they  have  no  jail, 
no  prison  walls,  no  bolted  gates,  but  occupy  an  open  farm 
in  the  forest,  where  the  boys  are  as  free  as  in  any 
country  academy ;  and  are  often  sent  to  the  village  or  the 
mill  on  errands,  without  any  guards ;  and  yet  there  are  fewer 
escapes  than  from  other  institutions  where  boys  are  kept 
strictly  as  prisoners  within  high  walls  and  bolted  doors." 

"  At  Lancaster  the  boys  of  the  school  do  all  the  work 
on  the  farm,  raising  their  own  food  and  a  large  amount 
for  sale.  Every  hour  is  occupied  in  work,  study,  moral 
instruction,  or  recreation,  leaving  no  room  for  evil  influ- 
!cnces  to  creep  in." 


/<^  '^  »  B  H  A  ^ 

OF     ,-;.• 

SUCCESS   OF   MORAL  TRAINING  83 

"One  of  the  teachers  says  : 

"  As  an  evidence  that  our  boys  are  properly  controlled, 
and  that  they  love  and  honor  their  home,  words  of  pro- 
fanity and  vulgarity  are  never  heard  from  their  lips ; 
quarrels  are  unknown;  not  a  seat  in  the  school  room,  not 
a  wall  is  defaced  by  cutting  or  marking,  or  soiled  by 
words  or  pictures  of  impurity.  They  are  loved  and 
trusted,  therefore  they  are  contented,  and  like  good  boys 
stay  at  home  and  do  their  duty.  Nor  are  they  held  by 
personal  restraint  and  a  system  of  espionage.  For  eleven 
years  we  have  sent  almost  daily  one  to  six  boys  with 
teams  to  Lancaster,  a  distance  of  six  miles.  Not  one  of 
these  boys  ever  betrayed  our  confidence  by  escaping,  and 
we  never  heard  a  single  complaint  of  bad  conduct. 
Indeed  the  citizens  of  Lancaster  and  the  surrounding 
country  have  always  and  uniformly  commended  their 
good  behavior  and  gentlemanly  bearing." 

Such  examples,  showing  what  may  be  accomplished 
by  good  moral  training  in  schools,  emphasize  the  de- 
mand for  such  training  in  all  the  public  schools. 

The  Kindergarten  is  an  excellent  system  for  training 
the  young.  In  this  way  the  child  is  attracted  and  inter- 
ested, and  the  school  life  begun  in  a  way  to  produce 
pleasing  and  lasting  impressions.  But  a  small  propor- 
tion of  children  now  receive  the  benefit  of  this  training. 
It  should  be  made  a  part  of  the  common  school  system, 
and  lessons  in  good  morals  and  good  manners  should  be 
taught  to  the  youngest  pupils,  who  may  be  easily  im- 
pressed with  such  lessons.  And  it  would  be  well  to  carry 
the  Kindergarten  Methods  of  object  and  oral  teaching 
still  farther  in  the  course.  We  place  too  much  reliance 
upon  text  books  and  too  little  upon  the  teacher. 

This  teaching  should  be  systematic.  The  state  should' 
furnish  text  books  on  morals  and  manners. 


84  EARLY   TRAINING   DESIRABLE 

Kindness;  consideration;  respect  for  the  rights  of 
others,  both,  in  property,  person,  sensibility  and  character; 
truth,  honor,  honesty;  cleanliness,  neatness,  purity; 
kindness  to  animals;  industry  and  frugality;  love  of 
home  and  friends  and  country;  adherence  to  right  prin- 
ciples; advantages  of  an  established  character  for  truth 
and  uprightness ;  self  reliance  and  self  control ;  courage 
and  fortitude;  politeness;  these  are  texts  for  lessons  in 
moral  training,  and  many  of  them  may  be  taught  to  the 
youngest  pupils. 

Moral  education  in  the  schools  must  come  mainly  from 
the  teacher.  The  text  book  of  ethics  must  be  for  the 
teacher's  use,  and  the  teacher  must  be  an  exemplification 
of  the  lessons  to  be  taught.  Courtesy,  truth,  self  control 
and  an  earnest  desire  for  the  pupiPs  good,  must  show 
forth  in  the  life  and  the  every  expression  of  the  teacher 
to  make  such  teaching  effective.  And  such  kindly  virtues 
must  come  to  he,  more  and  more,  indispensible  qualifications 
for  the  teacher;  and  the  formation  and  cultivation  of  such 
character  a  prominent  part  of  the  normal  school  work. 

Politeness,  which  is  close  akin  to  kindness,  also  should 
be  taught  constantly  and  systematically  in  the  schools. 
Politeness  is  the  outward  expression  of  the  kindness 
which  should  rule  the  heart.  It  is  the  outward  expres- 
sion of  kindness  which  casts  a  light  across  the  pathway 
of  others  and  illumines  one's  own. 

Among  Puritans  and  Quakers  we  have  had  examples  of 
an  honorable  and  just  character,  lacking  in  outward  ex- 
pressions of  kindness;  and  we  still  have  among  their 
descendants  notable  examples  of  this  lack  of  the  common 
courtesies  of  life,  and  of  the  refining  influence  of  such 
expression.      Being  of    New   England    parentage,    and 


PURITANS   AND   QUAKERS  86 

having  felt  and  observed  the  need  of  training  in  polite- 
ness, I  can  say  this  without  prejudice.  The  people  of 
the  South  are  noted  among  Americans  for  politeness,  and 
as  well,  for  the  kindly  virtues  of  consideration  and 
hospitality  which  politeness  indicates. 

As  oiie  result  of  the  benevolent  work  of  the  Woman's 
Christian  Temperance  Union,  we  now  have  a  large  part 
of  the  youth  of  the  nation  taught  in  the  schools  the  evil 
results  of  the  use  of  intoxicating  drinks,  tobacco  and 
other  narcotics,  and  in  this  way  a  foundation  is  being 
laid  for  the  final  eradication  of  these  evils.  This  is  a 
beginning  of  a  good  work  in  the  schools  which  should  be 
extended  to  all  other  lines  of  moral  instruction.  By 
such  systematic  training  of  the  young,  we  may  rely  upon 
forming  such  a  character  for  truth  and  honor  in  the 
large  majority  of  those  who  are  to  come  upon  the  stage 
of  action,  that  it  will  show  forth  in  the  future  in  a  more 
moral,  honorable  and  benevolent  condition  of  society, 
and  in  a  more  honest,  intelligent  and  economical  ad- 
ministration of  public  affairs. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

A  CLEAN  BALLOT.     CIVIL  SERVICE  REFORM 

The  Australian  ballot  system  is  an  effective  remedy  for 
some  of  our  corrupt  election  practices.  It  insures  free- 
dom, protection  and  privacy  to  the  voter.  It  takes  away 
from  the  rough  and  vicious  element  used  by  dominant 
parties  to  carry  elections,  much  of  the  power  they  have 
had  over  weak,  timid,  indifferent,  ignorant,  vacillating 
and  venal  voters. 

In  most  of  the  states  this  system  has  been  adopted 
with  little  opposition.  In  those  states  where  politics  and 
government  are  exceptionally  pure,  as  in  Michigan  and 
Massachusetts,  excellent  ballot  laws  have  been  adopted, 
but  in  states  where  party  management  is  in  bad  hands, 
and  where  bossism,  venality,  bribery  and  corruption 
are  most  flagrant — notably  in  Pennsylvania,  New  York 
and  California — ballot  reform  has  met  with  most  serious 
opposition,  and  defective  laws,  if  any,  have  been  adopted. 

As  this  reform  is  an  effective  means  for  curtailing  the 
power  of  the  party  bosses,  it  has  been  opposed  by  the 
political  machines  of  both  old  parties.  But,  notwith- 
standing this  opposition,  the  general  good  sense  of  the 
people  has  prevailed  and  this  reform  has  come  to  stay. 
And  this  fact  is  one  of  the  most  gratifying  and  hopeful 
signs  of  a  prospect  of  improvement  in  our  political  life. 
In  the  matter  of  ballot  reform  it  is  now  only  necessary  to 

S6 


CIVIL   SERVICE   REFORM  87 

have  the  law  extended  to  other  states,  and  the  present 
defective  laws  corrected.  So  that  this  question  need 
trouble  us  but  little.     It  is  no  longer  a  problem. 

CIVIL  SERVICE  REFORM 

Of  the  progress  of  this  reform  we  cannot  say  so  much. 
In  this  line  we  are  not  making  much  headway.  Politi- 
cians profess  devotion  to  civil  service  reform,  while  their 
hearts  are  far  from  it.  A  small  number  of  leaders  of  both 
the  old  parties  are  honest  advocates  of  this  reform,  but 
the  principal  managers  of  both  are  upholders  and  defend- 
ers of  the  spoils  system,  and  both  parties  are  managed  in 
that  way — for  the  spoils  and  the  plunder.  Quay  and 
Clarkson,  both  pronounced  spoilsmen,  have  been  chair- 
men of  the  republican  National  committee,  and  Mr. 
Clarkson  wrote  a  magazine  article  in  defense  of  that 
demoralizing  system. 

Civil  service  reform  has  been  adopted  as  a  principle  of 
our  government,  and  its  advantages  as  a  potent  means  of 
promoting  an  honest  and  efficient  administration  of  the 
government  business  has  been  fully  demonstrated.  The 
way  has  been  shown,  but  the  dominant  parties  have 
walked  not  in  it — not  to  any  alarming  extent  I  Theoret- 
ically we  have  adopted  the  reform,  but  practically  we 
have  the  spoils  system  as  the  rule  of  action  in  most 
departments  of  the  service.  In  some  departments  the 
civil  service  rules  are  fairly  well  carried  out,  at  least  in 
the  lower  appointments.  While  in  other  departments 
the  reform  is  ignored  or  but  partly  adopted. 

We  cannot  expect  to  make  much  progress  in  the  adop- 
tion of  this  reform  while  the  leaders  of  the  dominant 
parties  oppose  it.    We  cannot  expect  any  reform  to  sue- 


00  THE   MERIT   SYSTEM 

ceed  when  we  place  it  on  trial  with  those  who  are  not  in 
sympathy  with  it  and  do  not  intend  to  be  controlled  by 
it.  That  is  a  bad  way  to  "  nurse  an  infant  industry." 
We  can  hope  for  the  success  of  any  reform,  only  when 
the  party  in  power  is  fully  committed  to  its  principles, 
and  pledged  to  carry  it  out. 

We  are  not  left  at  all  in  doubt  as  to  the  genuine  and 
complete  success  and  benefit  of  the  merit  system  in  the 
selection  of  men  for  carrying  on  government  business. 
In  most  European  nations,  fitness  for  the  positions,  as 
shown  by  a  thorough  examination  of  candidates,  is  the 
requisite  in  the  selection  of  government  employes.  In 
the  United  Kingdom  the  administration  of  the  govern- 
ment service  is  nearly  perfect.  The  candidate  m.ust  show 
evidence  of  good  character,  must  be  thoroughly  honest 
and  upright,  and  must  be  fully  qualified  and  adapted  for 
the  position  for  which  he  applies.  As  a  result,  the  British 
have  a  model  civil  service,  efficient  and  painstaking,  and 
mismanagement  and  peculation  are  almost  unknown. 

Time  was  when  the  British  civil  service  was  as  bad  as 
ours  has  ever  been.  The  king  and  the  nobles  gave  gov- 
ernment places  to  their  favorites,  just  as  our  party  bosses 
give  government  positions  to  their  friends  in  this  country 
to-day.  But  the  common  people  in  England,  to  curtail 
the  power  of  the  king  and  nobility,  and  to  improve  the 
condition  of  the  service,  which  was  bad  enough,  inaug- 
urated the  merit  system.  W^hen  will  the  common  people 
in  the  United  States  curtail  the  power  of  the  political 
boss,  the  politician  and  the  plutocrat  (for  they  work 
together)  by  insisting  that  our  government  business  shall 
be  conducted  in  the  interest  of  the  whole  people,  and  not 
in  the  interest  of  any  party  or  any  set  of  politicians  ? 


CIVIL     SERVICE    REFORM    IN    EUROPE  89 

The  business  of  the  government  should  be  conducted 
in  a  business  manner.  Men  should  be  selected  to  fill 
government  positions  who  are  in  every  way  fitted  and 
qualified  to  fill  them.  We  need  not  hope  that  any  other 
reform  which  depends  upon  government  administration 
can  possibly  succeed  in  any  full  measure  until  we  have  a 
complete  reform  of  our  civil  service. 

Politicians  as  they  enlarge  upon  the  great  blessings  of 
our  free  institutions  often  talk  to  us  about  the  "  effete 
monarchies '' of  Europe.  If  there  is  anything  "effete" 
about  such  monarchies  as  Prussia,  Norway  and  Sweden, 
and  the  United  Kingdom,  it  is  not  to  be  found  in  the 
conduct  of  their  government  service.  The  term  would 
better  apply  to  the  corrupt  governments  of  some  of  our 
American  cities — New  York,  San  Francisco  and  Omaha, 
for  example. 

Between  the  governments  of  British  and  American 
cities  there  is  a  wide  difference  in  favor  of  the  former. 
Birmingham,  England,  and  Glasgow,  Scotland,  may  be 
taken  as  models  of  well  governed  cities.  The  best,  ablest 
and  purest  of  men  are  elected  to  fill  important  offices, 
and  the  mayor  and  aldermen  serve  faithfully  and  without 
pay,  devoting  a  considerable  part  of  their  time  in  endeav- 
oring to  give  the  best  possible  government,  and  to 
improving  the  conditions  which  go  to  make  for  the  com- 
fort and  well  being  of  the  people. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

EQUAL  SUFFRAGE,  EQUAL  POLITICAL  AND 
CIVIL  RIGHTS 

There  is  no  wrong  more  clearly  a  wrong  ;  no  imposition 
more  plainly  an  imposition  ;  no  usurpation  of  power  and 
authority  more  decidedly  a  usurpation,  or  with  less 
shadow  of  pretext,  than  the  assumption  by  man  of  the 
sole  right  to  govern  ;  to  make  and  execute  all  laws — those 
which  affect  woman  mainly,  as  well  as  those  which  affect 
man  and  woman  alike — without  the  advice,  the  knowledge 
or  consent  of  woman.  And  the  many  laws  made  by  man 
which  deny  to  women  some  of  the  most  common  rights, 
intensify  this  injustice. 

"  Governments  derive  their  just  powers  from  the  consent  oj 
the  governed."  Since  when  did  woman  "  consent  to  be  gov- 
erned ?  "  Are  there  any  "  just  powers  "  of  our  govern- 
ment, formed  and  perpetuated  with  the  consent  of  but 
one  half  its  people  ? 

*'  Taxation  without  representation  "  is  a  political  outrage, 
tamely  submitted  to  only  by  the  subjects  of  absolute 
monarchs  and  by  people  of  subject  provinces,  and  often 
they  cry  out  against  it.  It  was  for  this  outrage  that  the 
founders  of  our  Republic  declared  themselves  to  be  '^  a 
free  and  independent  people,"  and  that  they  would  not 
longer  submit  to  such  gross  tyranny.  Does  woman  tamely 
submit  to  this  injustice  ?  For  long  years  has  she  solemnly 
protested  against  it. 

90 


REASONS   FOR   EQUAL    CIVIL    RIGHTS  91 

^^  All  men  are  by  nature  free  and  independent^  and  have 
certain  inalienable  rights,^*  among  which  are  life,  liberty, 
and  property,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness.  By  the  term 
"  men ''  the  Fathers  of  the  Republic  certainly  meant  man- 
kind. But  if  men  have  these  inalienable  rights,  have 
not  women  an  equal  right  to  the  enjoyment  and  defence 
of  life,  liberty  and  property  ;  to  the  use  of  all  their  fac- 
ulties and  endowments  ;  to  the  ownership  and  possession 
of  their  labor  and  the  product  of  their  labor  and  care  ; 
to  an  equal  voice  in  making  and  executing  the  laws  and  to 
equal  protection  under  them  ? 

Governments  are  instituted  among  men,  not  only  to 
protect  all  citizens  in  their  equal  rights,  but  ''  io  promote 
the  general  welfare.''^  How  can  ''  the  general  welfare  be 
promoted  "  while  the  most  ordinary  civil  and  property 
rights  are  abridged  and  political  rights  entirely  denied  to 
one  half  the  people  ? 

Established  during  periods  of  despotism,  feudalism  and 
serfdom,  and  now  rooted,  grounded  and  upheld  by  long 
custom,  by  blind  prejudice,  and  by  man's  egotism  and 
selfishness,  this  relic  of  barbaric  times,  this  vestige  of 
the  once  "  vested  right "  of  man  to  rule,  the  denial  of 
political  and  civil  equality  to  woman,  still  stands  as  a 
landmark  of  a  bygone,  savage  state,  and  as  a  blot  on  the 
pages  of  our  present  boasted  liberty  and  enlightenment. 

During  the  early  and  middle  ages,  woman  was  looked 
upon,  not  only  as  an  inferior,  but  as  a  drudge  and  slave. 
She  was  forced  to  do  servile  work,  chastised  and  beaten, 
bought  and  sold  according  to  the  pleasure  and  caprice  of 
her  "lord"  and  "  master."  Not  that  every  man  was  a 
tyrant,  but  that  woman  was  subject  to  his  dominion 
whatever  that  might  be.    And  this   was  the  case   not 


92  POSITION    OF    WOMEN    AMONG    ANCIENTS 

merely  in  barbarous  countries,  but  in  countries  considered 
civilized,  as  well.  Aristotle  held  that  "  The  relation  of 
man  to  woman  is  that  of  a  governor  to  a  subject/^  Plato 
said  :  "  She  has  only  to  manage  the  house  well,  keeping 
what  there  is  in  it,  and  obeying  her  husband." 

The  women  of  Sparta  and  Egypt  were  held  in  higher 
esteem  than  those  of  most  other  countries.  Lycurgus 
said  :  "  Female  slaves  are  good  enough  to  sit  at  home, 
weaving  and  spinning,  but  who  can  expect  a  splendid 
offspring — from  mothers  brought  up  in  such  occupations  ?  " 
Yet  the  free  born  girl  of  Sparta  was  often  disposed  of  in 
marriage  by  her  father  without  her  consent,  and  the 
Spartan  husband  could  bequeath  a  wife  as  other  property 
by  will,  at  his  death.  Under  the  old  Roman  law,  the 
husband  had  absolute  power  over  his  wife.  He  was  her 
sole  tribunal. 

The  Arab  bought  his  wife  and  treated  her  as  his  slave, 
considering  her  only  as  an  earthly  being.  He  looked 
forward  to  a  new  wife,  resplendent  in  beauty,  in  paradise. 
The  Chinaman  says  a  woman  has  no  soul,  and  the  Hin- 
doo widow  was  burned  upon  the  funeral  pile  of  her 
husband. 

In  many  savage  tribes  in  modern  times,  the  condition 
of  their  women  is  much  as  it  was  a  thousand  years  ago, 
and  it  is  to  a  large  extent,  lamentably  true,  that,  in  the 
most  enlightened  nations  of  the  present  age,  woman  is 
still  looked  upon  as  an  inferior,  a  dependent,  and  a  drudge; 
that  she  is  denied  many  civil  and  property  rights,  and 
that  political  rights  are  entirely  withheld  from  her.  Does 
not  the  ancient  view  of  the  proper  place  of  woman  cor- 
respond in  principle  with  the  idea  of  many  men  at  the 
present  day,  who  say  that  woman's  "  sphere  "  is  at  home, 


ENGLISH    LAWS    RELATING   TO    WOMEN  93 

washing,  mending,  cooking,  and  rearing  children  ;  and 
that  when  she  seeks  other  avocations  or  essays  to  assist  in 
government,  she  "  loses  her  womanhood  "  and  "  unsexes  " 
herself  ? 

The  common  and  statute  laws  of  the  various  states  of 
the  Union  are  based  upon  the  English  common  law.  Here 
are  some  of  its  provisions: 

By  marriage  the  legal  existence  of  the  woman  is 
"merged  in  that  of  her  husband."  He  is  her  "  baron  " 
or  "  lord,"  bound  to  supply  her  with  shelter,  food  and 
clothing,  and  is  entitled  to  her  earnings,  and  the  use 
and  custody  of  her  person,  which  he  may  seize  wherever 
he  may  find  it. 

The  husband  being  bound  to  provide  for  his  wife,  and 
being  responsible  for  her  "  morals  "  and  the  good  order  of 
the  household,  may  choose  and  govern  the  domicile, 
choose  her  associates,  separate  her  from  her  relatives, 
restrain  her  religious  and  personal  freedom,  compel  her  to 
cohabit  with  him,  correct  her  faults  by  mild  means,  and 
if  necessary  chastise  her  as  though  she  were  his  appren- 
tice or  child  :  this  being  in  respect  to  "  the  terms  of  the 
marriage  contract  and  the  infirmity  of  the  sex." 

The  husband  is  entitled  to  recover  damages  for  "  crim- 
inal conversation  with  his  wife,"  or  for  injury  to  her 
person  whereby  he  is  deprived  of  his  "  marital  rights," 
but  the  wife  has  no  action  for  injuries  to  her  husband,  as 
she  is  not  entitled  to  his  services  or  to  any  separate  inter- 
est in  any  thing  during  her  coverture. 

The  law  takes  notice  only  of  the  injuries  done  to  the 
"  superior  of  the  parties  related,"  because  the  *'  inferior 
has  no  kind  of  property  in  the  company,  care  or  assist- 
ance of  the  superior." 


94  STATE   LAWS   RELATING   TO   WOMEN 

In  most  of  the  states  this  common  law  has  been  much 
improved  in  some  particulars,  while  in  other  respects,  it 
remains  with  little  or  no  change.  We  have  such  laws  as 
the  following: — 

By  marriage  the  husband  acquires  the  personal  prop- 
erty of  the  wife,  and  the  rents  and  profits  of  her  lands, 
unless  otherwise  provided  for  by  marriage  contract. 

The  wife  has  no  share  in  the  property  of  her  husband, 
or  in  that  which  they  acquire  jointly,  while  they  live 
together. 

If  the  husband  die  intestate,  leaving  a  widow  and  issue, 
the  widow  has  one-third  of  his  and  their  joint  personal 
property,  and  the  use  of  one-third  of  the  real  estate  for 
life.     If  there  are  no  children  she  gets  one-half. 

If  the  wife  dies  without  a  will,  leaving  a  husband  and 
no  children,  he  gets  all  her  personalty,  and  the  use  of  all 
her  realty,  and  all  their  joint  estate. 

When  a  divorce  is  decreed  by  reason  of  the  wife's 
adultery,  she  is  entitled  to  a  subsistence  out  of  the  prop- 
erty and  he  gets  the  balance. 

In  case  of  divorce  granted  on  account  of  the  husband's 
adultery,  the  wife  is  entitled  to  her  "  thirds  "  only,  and 
the  husband  gets  the  remainder. 

In  but  two  states  has  a  woman  any  legal  right  to  her 
own  legitimate  child  while  she  lives  with  her  husband. 

A  girl  at  ten  years  of  age  (the  "  age  of  consent  "  varies 
from  seven  to  sixteen  years  in  the  different  states,)  has  a 
legal  right  to  dispose  of  her  virtue  and  honor  to  whoever 
may  ensnare  her,  and  the  fiend  who  blasts  her  young  life 
is  held  guiltless  of  offense,  but  she  can  not  legally  dispose 
of  a  sheep  or  an  acre  of  land  until  she  is  eighteen. 

These  examples  are  sufficient  to  show  the  character  of 


WOMEN  SHOULD  NOT  BE  DEPENDENT         95 

existing  laws  concerning  the  civil  rights  of  women. 
These  laws  were  made  by  men,  without  the  voice  or  consent 
of  women,  and  they  show  how  kind,  how  generous,  how 
iust,  how  thoughtful  and  considerate  men  have  been  in 
guarding  and  protecting  the  rights  and  interests  of  women  ! 
And  yet  there  are  those  who  think,  notwithstanding  all 
this,  that  women  really  need  to  have  a  voice  in  protecting 
their  own  interests  ! 

Most  men  are  much  better  than  their  laws  ;  yet  the 
majority  of  men  are  not  sufficiently  wise,  or  just,  or  pure, 
or  unselfish,  to  make  the  laws  for  men  and  for  women  also. 

Besides,  while  the  law  makes  the  husband  the  owner  of 
the  property,  in  whole  or  in  large  part  ;  while  itputs/iim 
in  possession  and  in  the  management  and  control  of  all 
the  joint  earnings  and  accumulations  of  property  and 
estate,  it  necessarily  makes  the  wife  a  dependent,  and 
subordinate,  who  must  look  to  her  superior  to  give 
her  from  his  bounty  and  reward  her  from  his  store. 

It  is  a  constant  source  of  humiliation  to  many  women 
to  have  to  ask  their  husbands,  and  often  to  plead,  for 
provision  for  the  most  common  necessaries  or  comforts 
needed  for  herself  or  her  household.  As  the  child  goes  to 
its  parent,  so  must  the  wife  as  a  rule  go  to  her  husband 
and  ask  to  be  provided  for.  She  must  beg  for  that  which 
of  right  belongs  to  her. 

Many  husbands  think  themselves  very  generous  to 
make  "  presents  "  to  their  wives  of  things  they  much  need. 
The  wife  would  usually  much  prefer  to  receive  the  money 
which  rightly  belongs  to  her,  and  make  her  own  selections 
of  articles  she  needs. 

The  local  preacher  who  has  just  received  a  "  donation 
visit "  from  members  of  his  flock  who  think  themselves 


96       THE  WIFE  SHOULD  BE  A  FULL  PARTNER 

very  generous  to  reinforce  the  preacher's  meager  salary 
and  thus  lay  him  under  lasting  obligation  to  them,  can, 
in  a  measure,  appreciate  the  feelings  of  a  wife  whose 
dependent  position  is  made  ever  present  by  having  to 
receive  donations  in  lieu  of  an  honest  share  of  the  com- 
mon earnings. 

And  if  this  is  the  case  with  husbands  who  are  fairly 
generous  and  considerate,  how  will  it  be  with  those  who 
are  thoughtless,  selfish,  niggardly  ? 

There  are  comparatively  very  few  men  who  consider 
this  injustice,  and  accord  to  the  wife,  with  or  without  her 
request,  any  fair  share  in  the  common  possession,  or  any 
equal  voice  in  its  care,  its  management,  and  its  disposal. 
And  thus  it  comes  about  that  the  wife,  as  a  rule,  is  but  a 
pensioner,  a  servant  and  a  beggar,  where  she  should  of 
right  be  an  equal  owner  and  a  full  partner,  and  in  every 
respect  be  consulted,  advised  and  deferred  to  as  such. 
Men  should  not  speak  of  giving  women  civil  rights.  They 
belong  to  women  but  have  been  usurped  and  withheld  by 
men. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

OBJECTIONS  TO  EQUAL  SUFFRAGE 
CONSIDERED. 

1.  Suffrage  is  not  a  right  but  a  privilege.  If  so  it  is  a 
privilege  which  man  grants  to  himself  and  denies  to 
woman. 

2.  Women  are  so  very  different  from  men.  "They 
neither  think,  feel,  wish,  purpose,  will  nor  act  alike.'' 

Is  that  a  reason  why  men  should  know  better  what 
women  need  for  their  comfort  and  happiness  than 
women  themselves  know  ?  Let  the  women  judge  what 
they  need. 

3.  Women  as  a  rule  do  not  want  the  ballot.  How  do  you 
know  that  ?  You  do  not  submit  the  question  to  a  vote 
of  women  to  ascertain. 

4.  They  do  not  ask  for  it.  No  other  class  to  whom 
suffrage  has  been  denied  ever  asked  so  much  or  so  per- 
sistently for  it  as  have  women.  They  have  sent  deputa- 
tions to  Congress,  to  the  State  legislatures,  and  to  the 
great  conventions  of  the  political  parties,  many,  many 
times  asking  for  suffrage  and  remonstrating  against  the 
unjust  laws  made  by  men  which  discriminate  against 
women.  More  than  50,000  women  in  Massachusetts 
alone  have  petitioned  for  the  ballot. 

5.  Women  have  not  the  physical  courage  or  ability  to 
enforce  their  will  and  therefore  are  not  entitled  to  thfl 

97 


98  OBJECTIONS  TO  EQUAL  SUFFRAGE 

ballot.  Do  we  select  legislators  because  of  physical,  or 
of  mental  ability  ?  Is  the  fact  of  being  defenceless  a 
reason  for  denying  rights  to  the  weak  ? 

It  is  true,  that  women  are  usually  not  as  strong  as 
men,  but  this  is  more  the  result  of  habits  than  of  sex. 
It  is  not  true  that  there  is  naturally  a  wide  difference  in 
strength  and  endurance  between  men  and  women. 
Women  have  strength  when  they  are  trained  to  exercise 
it,  and  men  do  not  have  strong  muscles  unless  they  are 
developed  by  use.  Women  who  are  inured  to  labor  in 
the  fields  and  mines  in  some  countries  of  Europe  could 
much  better  endure  the  hardships  of  a  campaign  than 
most  professional  and  business  men  in  our  cities.  Many 
of  our  American  women  endure  as  much  toil  and  hard- 
ship as  do  the  majority  of  working  men,  and  they 
usually  work  longer  hours. 

6.  Women  have  not  sufficient  mental  capacity  and  force  oj 
character  to  fit  them  for  a  share  in  government.  We  find 
that  girls  are  as  good  students  as  boys,  and  that  more  of 
them  are  graduated  from  the  high  schools.  And  as  for 
force  and  ability  to  manage  and  control  affairs  we  usually 
find  women  as  competent  as  men  when  the  occasion  de- 
mands it.  Men  do  not  often  show  remarkable  traits  of 
character  until  they  are  called  out  by  force  of  circum- 
stances. Ulysses  S.  Grant,  as  a  wood-hauler  or  clerk  in 
a  leather  store  was  no  hero. 

The  history  of  Europe  shows  at  least  as  many  women 
as  men  who  have  ruled  great  empires  with  signal  ability, 
justice  and  good  sense.  They  have  made  better  rulers 
than  men,  more  careful  and  considerate.  Maria  Theresa, 
Empress  of  Austria,  found  her  Empire  in  a  weak  and 
chaotic  condition,  but  she  brought  order  out  of  confusion 


MARIA  THERESA   AND   VICTORIA  99 

and  strength  out  of  weakness.  For  forty  years  she  ruled, 
loved  and  respected  by  her  subjects,  carefully  and  ener- 
getically attending  to  all  the  details  of  her  duties  as  a 
sovereign,  and  making  the  Empire  a  leading  power  in 
Europe.  And  in  that  time  she  reared  a  large  family  of 
children,  nearly  all  of  whom  reached  maturity  and  ably 
filled  positions  of  trust  and  honor.  Frederick,  King  of 
Prussia,  said  of  her  "  that  she  exerted  a  magical  power 
over  her  soldiers,  and  that  the  Austrian  army  was  never 
before  so  well  disciplined  and  managed.'^ 

For  over  half  a  century  Queen  Victoria  has  ruled  over 
the  most  wealthy,and  one  of  the  most  populous  Empires  of 
the  Globe,and  no  nation  has  a  better  or  more  liberal  govern- 
ment. Victoria  recently  gave  a  marked  instance  of  her 
good  judgment,  her  high  sense  of  duty  and  her  consider- 
ation of  the  rights  of  the  common  people.  When  Emperor 
William  of  Germany  visited  England,  he  is  reported  to 
have  said  to  her  that  he  thought  it  would  be  necessary 
for  him  to  declare  war  upon  France,  and  the  Queen  re- 
plied in  part :  "  As  long  as  I  live  I  firmly  hope  that 
peace  will  be  maintained.  I  am  now  old,  but  still  feel  that 
my  last  years  shall  not  be  saddened  by  more  bloodshed 
flowing  in  Europe.  The  responsibility  which  rests  upon 
you  is  a  terrible  one.  It  would,  in  my  opinion,  be 
criminal  for  any  sovereign  or  statesman  to  precipitate 
events."  And  she  made  it  her  business  to  see  that  war 
should  be  averted.    • 

7.  It  would  take  luoman  out  of  her  proper  ^^  sphere  " 
which  is  the  home ;  would  demoralize  her,  "  hring  dis- 
credit "  upon  her  ;  it  would  "  unsex  "  her. 

Well,  if  Queen  Victoria,  and  Maria  Theresa,  and 
Queen  Elizabeth,  and  Queen  Isabella  and  hosts  of  others 


100  WHY   WOMAN   NEEDS  THE   BALLOT 

could  SO  ably  fill  high  positions  as  rulers  without  any- 
such  dire  results,  it  will  be  comparatively  safe  for  an  in  • 
telligent  American  woman  to  undertake  to  cast  a  ballot 
or  sit  in  the  jury  box  without  fear  of  such  bad  con- 
sequences. 

Should  woman  have  no  aspiration  but  to  keep  the 
house  well  ?  Should  the  farmer's  wife  more  than  the 
farmer  be  content  with  a  life  filled  with  a  never  ceasing 
round  of  daily  toils  ?  Should  kitchen  walls  bound  her 
horizon  more  than  the  barn-yard  fence  should  that  of 
her  husband  ? 

8.  Why  does  ivoman  need  the  ballot  ?  She  needs  it  for 
the  same  reasons  that  man  does,  and  because  in  no  other 
way  will  equal  rights  be  secured  to  her.  She  needs  it  to 
protect  her  rights  as  a  maid,  a  wife  and  a  mother ;  to 
give  her  "  equal  pay  for  equal  work,"  and  that  she  may 
own  her  earnings,  and  be  able  to  own,  sell,  devise  and 
bequeath  her  property  and  estate  as  she  elects. 

She  needs  to  be  "  armed  with  the  ballot"  that  she  may 
wage  effective  war  against  the  saloon,  the  brothel,  the  gam- 
bling den,  the  political  knave,  and  against  all  manner  of 
injustice,  vice,  uncleanness  and  crime. 

She  needs  it  to  enlarge  her  scope  of  duty,  responsibility 
and  usefulness.  Woman  needs  the  ballot  that  she  may 
take  her  place,  and  do  her  part,  as  man's  equal,  in  insti- 
tuting new  ways  and  reforms  in  our  methods  of  govern- 
ment, in  devising  and  shaping  legislation,  in  managing 
the  common  interests,  in  caring  for  the  mutual  heritage, 
and  in  promoting  the  general  welfare  of  men  and  women 
in  our  common  country. 

There  are,  on  the  other  hand,  special  reasons  why 
women  should  have  the  ballot.     Women  are,  as  a  whole, 


WORK    OF   THE    W.  C.    T.    U.  101 

better  than  men;  more  moral,  more  honorable,  more 
sensitive  to  the  wrongs,  and  more  considerate  of  the 
rights,  of  others.  Sixty  per  cent  of  church  members  are 
women;  ninety  per  cent  of  criminals  are  men.  And, 
while  women  would  be  more  merciful  to  the  weak,  the 
needy  and  the  oppressed,  they  would  not  be  as  ready,  to 
permit  the  oppressor  and  wrong-doer  to  escape  a  just 
punishment. 

Women  should  largely  have  the  charge  and  control  of 
the  common  schools,  of  reform  schools,  of  almshouses, 
and  of  all  asylums,  charitable  institutions,  and  places 
of  refuge. 

No  organization  of  men  in  the  last  decade  has,  in  a 
political  or  in  any  other  way,  accomplished  so  much  for 
the  moral  and  social  betterment  of  the  people  of  the 
United  States  as  has  the  Woman's  Christian  Temperance 
Union.  It  has,  almost  single  handed,  introduced  scien- 
tific temperance  instruction  in  the  schools  in  thirty-seven 
states.  This  has  been  done,  mainly  through  the  personal 
efforts  of  Mrs.  Mary  H.  Hunt,  National  Superintendent 
of  Scientific  Temperance  Instruction  of  the  organization. 
Mrs.  Hunt  is  one  of  those  remarkable  women,  who, 
though  hampered  by  exclusion  from  political  rights,  can 
not  be  circumscribed  in  any  narrow  bounds.  We  do  not 
know  to  what  extent  she  has  been  "  unsexed  "  and  "  lost 
her  womanhood  "  by  revolving  so  far  from  her  proper 
sphere  1  She  may  have  suffered  very  seriously  I  But, 
as  the  great  work  she  has  accomplished  for  humanity  has 
caused  her  name  to  be  inscribed  high  up  on  the  roll  of 
heroes,  she  can  afford  to  be  a  martyr  in  a  good  cause  I 

The  W.  C.  T.  U.  has  secured  the  enactment  of  laws 
prohibiting  the  sale  of  tobacco  to  minors  in  twenty-four 


102  BESULTS    OF   WOMAN   SUFFRAGE 

states,  has  succeeded  in  getting  the  "age  of  consent" 
raised  in  several  states,  and  has  accomplished  more  in 
advancing  the  temperance  reform  and  in  abolishing  the 
saloon,  than  any  other  agency. 

The  bare  enumeration  of  these  great  results  attained 
give  little  idea  of  the  "  toil  and  endeavor  "  required  to 
bring  about  these  ends,  without  political  power,  or  influ- 
ence. And  these  facts  clearly  show  that  giving  political 
power  to  women  would  secure  a  great  moral  and  social 
reformation  of  the  people. 

The  conclusive  argument  for  woman  suffrage  is,  that 
arguments  are  not  longer  needed,  if  men  will  but  heed 
the  proof  of  a  demonstration.  The  results  of  experience  in 
women  exercising  political  rights  prove  the  force  of  all 
the  arguments  advanced  in  favor  of  granting  them, 
and  show  that  all  the  fears  and  predictions  of  bad  re- 
sults are  groundless. 

The  English  women  have  had  municipal  suffrage  for 
twenty  years,  with  such  good  results  that  the  Lord 
Mayor  of  London  entertained  thirty-seven  total  abstinence 
Mayors  at  one  time.  Fancy  the  Mayor  of  Chicago  enter- 
taining thirty-seven  temperance  Mayors  I  Municipal 
Suffrage  has  been  extended  to  the  women  of  Scotland, 
Ontario,  New  Brunswick,  Nova  Scotia  and  Manitoba. 
The  women  of  Kansas  have  had  the  right  of  Municipal 
Suffrage  for  several  years,  and  have  served  as  city 
officials  in  many  instances  with  credit  to  themselves  and 
good  results  to  the  people. 

The  women  of  Washington  Territory  have  had  full 
suffrage  since  1883,  and  Chief  Justice  Greene  testifies  of 
the  results  as  follows  :  "  I  have  now  held  twelve  terms  of 
court  in  which  women  have   served   as  grand  and  petit 


EQUAL   SUFFRAGE    IN    WYOMING  103 

jurors,  and  it  is  certainly  a  fact  beyond  dispute  that  no 
other  twelve  terms  so  salutary  for  the  restraint  of  crime 
have  ever  been  held  in  this  Territory."  "  As  to  the  man- 
ner in  which  the  women  performed  jury  duty,  I  have  yet 
to  hear  from  any  one  who  became  qualified  to  pass  an 
opinion,  a  single  adverse  criticism  or  any  word  but 
praise. 

In  Wyoming,  women  have  had  full  suffrage  for  over 
twenty  years.     Governor  Hoyt  said  in  1882  : 

"  Under  it  we  have  better  laws,  better  officers,  better 
institutions,  better  morals,  and  a  higher  social  condition 
in  general  than  could  otherwise  exist.  Not  one  of  the 
predicted  evils,  such  as  loss  of  native  delicacy  and  dis- 
turbance of  home  relations,  has  followed  in  its  train. 
The  great  body  of  our  women,  and  the  best  of  them, 
have  accepted  the  elective  franchise  as  a  precious  boon, 
and  exercise  it  as  a  patriotic  duty.  In  a  word,  after 
twelve  years  of  happy  experience,  woman  suffrage  is  so 
thoroughly  rooted  and  established  in  the  hearts  and 
minds  of  this  people,  that  among  them  all,  no  voice  is 
ever  uplifted  in  protest  against  or  in  question  of  it." 

He  who  starts  out  seeking  any  reform  in  government, 

asking  for  himself    further  privileges    or   immunities, 

while    utterly    ignoring  the  rights  of  one-half  of    the 

people  (and  that  the  best  half),  to  a  full  share  with  him 

in  all  such  benefits,  is  not  a  reformer  or  statesman  in  any 

just  sense,  and  does  not  deserve  to  succeed.     He  is  but  a 

seeker  of  self-interest,  a  time-server,  or   a    political  and 

moral  coward. 

In  preparing  this  chapter  I  am  especially  indebted  to  the 
work  of  D.  P.  Livermore,  entitled  **  Woman  Suffrage  Defended." 


CHAPTER  XVI 
PROHIBITION  OF  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC 

The  remedies  for  the  drink  evil  are  as  patent  as  the  evil 
itself.  In  this  day  and  age  no  search  is  required  to  find 
them.     They  are  published  from  the  housetops. 

For  the  individual  the  remedy  is  to  ''  Touch  not  the 
cup,"  and  for  the  state,  to  abolish  the  saloon.  To  find 
and  to  perfect  the  legal  remedy  has  required  many  years 
of  study  and  trial,  but  we  now  have  it  in  its  complete- 
ness and  success. 

Almost  every  church  organization  in  the  land  has 
pronounced  in  unmistakable  terms  for  total  abstinence 
for  the  individual,  and  for  prohibition  for  the  state 
and  nation.  All  the  temperance  organizations  of  the 
country  are  a  unit  on  this  question.  From  no  genuine 
temperance  advocate  or  body  of  temperance  people  does 
there  come  any  proposition  or  suggestion  or  hint  of  any 
other  remedy  for  removing  the  terrible  incubus  of  the  drink 
evil  excepting  to  annihilate  the  accursed  rum  traffic. 

That  a  great  work  has  been  done  and  is  still  carried  on 
in  teaching  young  and  old  the  evils  of  drink,  in  inculca- 
ting principles  and  habits  of  virtue  and  sobriety,  and  in 
properly  treating  the  diseased  bodies  and  depraved 
appetites  of  the  victims  of  alcoholic  poison,  all  good  peo- 
ple concede.  But  as  a  legal  remedy,  a  state  and  national 
remedy,  it  is  idle  to  talk  of  any  other  than  prohibition  of 
the  liquor  traffic. 

10-4 


RESULTS   OF    PROHIBITION    IN    MAINE  105 

No  argument  is  needed  in  support  of  the  efficacy  of 
prohibitory  laws  as  a  final  remedy  for  the  evils  of  the 
liquor  traffic,  except  to  show  the  results  of  the  enforce- 
ment of  such  laws  ;  and  we  have  ample  experience  to 
exemplify  their  utility,  and  abundance  of  testimony  to 
prove  the  good  results  of  this  experience. 

In  1872,  Hon.  Wm.  P.  Frye,  then  a  member  of  Congress 
from  Maine,  sent  a  letter  to  Gen.  Neal  Dow  which  con- 
tained the  following  : 

"Your  favor  of  the  26th  inst.,  containing  an  inquiry 
as  to  the  effect  of  the  Maine  liquor  law  in  restraining 
the  sale  of  liquors  in  our  state,  etc.,  is  before  me  ;  and  in 
reply,  while  I  am  unable  to  state  any  exact  percentage  of 
decrease  in  the  business,I  can  and  do,from  my  own  personal 
observation,  unhesitatingly  affirm  that  the  consumption 
of  intoxicating  liquors  in  Maine  is  not  to-day  one-fourth 
so  great  as  it  was  twenty  years  ago" ;  that  in  the  country 
portions  of  the  state  the  sale  and  use  have  almost  entirely 
ceased  ;  that  the  law  of  itself  under  a  vigorous  enforcement 
of  its  provisions,  has  created  a  temperance  sentiment  which 
is  marvelous  and  to  which  opposition  is  powerless.  In  my 
opinion  our  remarkable  reform,  of  to-day  is  the  legitimate 
child  of  the  law^     [Italics  by  the  author.] 

This  letter  was  endorsed  by  all  the  other  members  of 
Congress  and  the  two  United  States  Senators  from  Maine 
at  the  time,  and  by  Hon.  James  G.  Blaine,  as  follows  : 

James  G.  Blaine  :  "  I  concur  in  the  foregoing  state- 
ment ;  and  on  the  point  of  the  relative  amount  of  the 
liquors  sold  at  present  in  Maine  and  in  those  states  where 
a  system  of  license  prevails.  I  am  sure,  from  personal 
knowledge  and  observation,  that  the  sales  are  immeasur- 
ably less  in  Maine."  In  1882  Mr.  Blaine  said  :  "  Intem- 
perance has  steadily  decreased  in  Maine  since  the  first 
enactment  of  the  prohibitory  law,  until  now  it  can  be 
said  with  truth  that  there  is  no  equal  number  of  people 


106  TESTIMONY    OF   MAINE    CONGRESSMEN 

in  the  Anglo-Saxon  world  among  whom  so  small  an 
amount  of  intoxicating  liquors  is  consumed  as  among 
the  650,000  inhabitants  of  Maine." 

Hannibal  Hamlin,  United  States  Senator  from  Maine, 
and  formerly  Vice-President  of  the  United  States  :  "  I 
concur  in  the  statements  made  by  Mr.  Frye.  In  the  great 
good  produced  by  the  prohibitory  liquor  law  of  Maine 
no  man  can  doubt  who  has  seen  its  results.  It  has  been 
of  immense  value." 

Lot  M.  Morrill,  United  States  Senator  from  Maine  : 
"I  have  the  honor  unhesitatingly  to  concur  in  the 
opinions  expressed  in  the  foregoing  by  my  colleague, 
Hon.  Mr.  Frye." 

John  Lynch,  member  of  Congress  from  Maine  :  "  I 
fully  concur  in  the  statements  of  my  colleague,  Mr.  Frye, 
in  regard  to  the  effect  of  the  enforcement  of  the  liquor 
law  in  the  State  of  Maine." 

John  A.  Peters  and  Eugene  Hale,  members  of  Congress 
from  Maine  :  "  We  are  satisfied  that  there  is  much  less 
intemperance  in  Maine  than  formerly,  and  that  the  result 
is  largely  produced  by  what  is  termed  prohibitory  legis- 
lation." 

All  the  governors  of  Maine  for  the  last  twenty-five 
years  have  testified  to  the  good  results  of  the  enforcement 
of  the  prohibitory  laws  of  the  state.  Here  are  specimens 
of  their  testimony  from  the  continuous  line  of  governors 
from  1872  to  1888  : 

Governor  Chamberlain  (1872)  :  "The  law  is  as  well 
executed  generally  in  the  state  as  other  criminal  laws." 

Governor  Perham  (1872)  :  "I  think  it  safe  to  say  that 
it  (the  volume  of  the  liquor  trade)  is  very  much  less  than 
before  the  enactment  of  the  law — probably  not  one-tenth 
as  large." 

Governor  Dingley  (1874)  :  "  In  more  than  three-fourths 


TESTIMONY    OF    MAINE    GOVERNORS  107 

of  the  state,  particularly  in  the  rural  sections,  open  dram- 
shops are  almost  unknown  and  secret  sales  are  compar- 
atively rare." 

Governor  Conner  (1876):  "Maine  has  a  fixed  con- 
clusion upon  this  subject.  It  is  that  the  sale  of  intox- 
icating liquors  is  an  evil  of  such  magnitude  that  the 
well  being  of  the  state  demands  that  the  conditions  of 
the  social  compact  warrants  its  suppression.-' 

Governor  Robie  (1885)  :  "  Criminal  statistics  show  that 
the  law  has  been  beneficial  in  restraining  crime,  and  the 
number  of  indictments  found  against  the  violators  of  the 
law  in  all  our  courts  and  the  fines  and  costs  or  sentences 
of  imprisonment  imposed  prove  the  general  willingness 
of  the  people  to  assist  in  its  enforcement." 

Governor  Bodwell  (1887)  :  "In  from  three-fourths  to 
four-fifths  of  the  towns  of  the  state  the  law  is  well 
enforced  and  has  practically  abolished  the  sale  of  spirit- 
uous and  malt  liquors  as  beverages.  In  the  larger  cities 
and  towns,  on  the  seaboard  and  at  railway  centers,  it  has 
been  found  more  difficult  to  secure  perfect  compliance 
with  the  law,  but  it  can  still  be  said  that  at  very  few 
points  in  the  state  is  liquor  openly  sold." 

Governor  Marble  (1888):  "Prohibition  has  •  closed 
every  distillery  and  brewery  in  Maine.  The  law  has 
greatly  diminished  the  sale  and  use  of  intoxicating 
liquors  and  increased  sobriety  and  morality  among  the 
people,  especially  outside  of  the  cities.  It  is  certainly 
the  best  law  of  which  1  have  any  knowledge,  and  wherever 
public  sentiment  favors  its  enforcement  it  works  per- 
fectly." 

\¥e  give  below  some  utterances  from  some  public  men 
of  Iowa  as  to  the  results  of  prohibition  in  that  state  : 

Governor  William  Larabee  (a  sturdy  opponent  of  Pro- 
hibition before  its  enactment,  but  converted  into  a  most 
ardent  supporter  after  due  observation  of  the  workings  of 


108  RESULTS   OF   PROHIBITION   IN   IOWA 

the  law),  in  a  letter  to  Rev.  William  Fuller,  of  Aberdeen, 
S.  D.,  Feb.  16,  1889:  "I  think  more  than  half  of  the 
jails  in  the  state  are  entirely  empty  at  the  present  time. 
There  are  98  less  convicts  in  our  penitentiaries  than 
there  were  three  years  ago,notwithstanding  the  growth  of  the 
population.  Expenses  in  Criminal  Courts  have  decreased 
very  largely  during  the  last  few  years.  Tramps  are  very 
scarce  in  Iowa.  There  are  evidently  very  few  attractions 
for  them  here.  Probably  more  than  3,000  of  their 
recruiting  stations  have  been  closed  in  Iowa  during  the 
last  five  years.  The  wives  and  mothers  of  the  state,  and 
especially  those  of  small  means  are  almost  unanimously 
in  favor  of  the  law.  .The  families  of  laboring  men  now 
receive  the  benefits  of  the  earnings  that  formerly  went  to 
the  saloons.  There  is  no  question  in  my  mind  but  what 
the  law  is  doing  good  for  the  people.  My  views  hereto- 
fore advanced  in  favor  of  the  law  are  strengthened  and 
confirmed  by  added  experience.  Our  people  are  more 
determined  than  ever  to  make  no  compromise  with  the 
saloons.  The  law  has  more  friends  in  the  state  than  it 
ever  had  before,  and  I  am  satisfied  that  no  state  can  show 
results  more  gratifying." 

United  States  Senator,  James  F.  Wilson,  in  a  letter  to 
the  New  York  Voice  for  Oct.  9,  1890,  said  :  "  It  gives  me 
pleasure  to  be  able  to  say  that  in  every  desirable  aspect 
of  the  case  prohibition  has  been  beneficial  to  Iowa.  I 
have  a  pretty  accurate  knowledge  of  the  condition  exist- 
ing in  Iowa,  as  induced  by  prohibition,  and  I  do  not  hesi- 
tate to  say  that  they  are  all  better  for  its  presence  than  they 
would  have  been  without  it.  In  the  several  features  of 
the  case  as  respects  business,  value  of  property,  moral  and 
educational  conditions,  diminution  of  crime  and  criminal 
expenses,  social  and  domestic  phases  of  society,  Iowa  is 
ready  to  stand  in  a  row  of  the  states  for  examination 
with  no  fear  that  any  of  her  sisters  will,  at  the  conclu- 
sion, stand  nearer  the  head  of  the  line  than  will  she." 

J.  F.  Kennedy,  M.  D.,  Secretary  of  the  Iowa  State 
Board  of  Health,  in  a  letter  to  the  Voice  of  Oct.  9,  1890  ; 


TESTIMONY    FROM    IOWA  109 

"  In  all  respects  our  people  have  been  greatly  benefited. 
Crime  and  immorality  have  greatly  decreased  ;  social 
conditions  have  improved  ;  homes  have  become  more 
home-like,  and  thrift  and  the  angels  of  hope  have  gone 
into  many  homes  where  the  blight  of  poverty  and  the 
demon  of  despair  had  taken  their  abode." 

W.  W.  Field,  Director  of  the  State  Agricultural  Society, 
in  a  letter  to  the  Voice  for  Oct.  9,  1890  :  "  I  do  not  mean 
to  say  that  no  liquor  is  sold  and  used  in  the  state,  but  I 
do  say  that  the  quantity  is  small  compared  with  saloon 
times,  and  that  our  young  men  are  not  tempted  as  form- 
erly, and  are  being  taught  that  to  drink  is  to  lower  them- 
selves in  the  estimation  of  the  best  society.  It  is  rare 
now  to  see  a  drunken  man  upon  our  streets,  and  at  our 
recent  State  Fair,  where  there  were  upon  our  grounds  one 
day  50,000  people,  not  a  man  was  seen  under  the  influence 
of  liquor." 

The  State  officers  of  Kansas,  nine  in  number,  in  1889, 
in  co-operation  with  the  officers  of  the  State  Temperance 
Union,  issued  a  formal  declaration  concerning  the  results 
of  the  prohibitory  law,  in  which  the  following  was  said 
in  regard  to  the  consumption  of  drink,  etc. : 

"  The  law  is  efficiently  and  successfully  enforced.  The 
direct  results  of  its  enforcement  are  plain  and  unmis- 
takable. We  believe  that  not  one-tenth  of  the  amount  of 
liquor  is  now  used  that  was  used  before  the  adoption  of 
the  prohibition  law. 

"  Our  citizens  fully  realize  the  happy  results  of  the 
prohibition  of  the  manufacture  and  sale  of  liquor,  as 
these  results  are  seen  in  the  decrease  of  poverty  and 
wretchedness  and  crime,  and  in  the  promotion  of  domes- 
tic peace  and  social  order — in  the  advancement  of  general 
enterprise  and  thrift.  In  our  opinion  the  prohibition  law 
is  now  stronger  with  the  people  than  it  was  when  adopted. 
It  has  more  than  met  the  expectations  of  its  warmest 
friends.  It  is  steadily  winning  the  confidence  and  support 
of  thousands  who  were  its  bitterest  enemies." 


110  PROHIBITION   IN   KANSAS 

Senator  John  J.  Ingalls,  in  an  article  in  the  Forum  for 
August,  1889,  used  the  following  pithy  and  forcible  lan- 
guage :  "  Kansas  has  abolished  the  saloon.  The  open 
dramshop  traffic  is  as  extinct  as  the  sale  of  indulgences. 
A  drunkard  is  a  phenomenon.  The  barkeeper  has  joined 
the  troubadour,  the  crusader  and  the  mound-builder. 
The  brewery,  the  distillery  and  the  bonded  warehouse 
are  known  only  to  the  archaeologist.  Temptation  being 
removed  from  the  young  and  the  infirm,  they  have  been 
fortified  and  redeemed.  The  liquor-seller  being  pro- 
scribed is  an  outlaw  and  his  vocation  is  disreput- 
able. Drinking  being  stigmatized  is  out  of  fashion 
and  the  consumption  of  intoxicants  has  enormously 
decreased.  Intelligent  and  conservative  observers  est- 
imate the  reduction  at  90  per  cent. ;  it  can  not  be  less 
than  75." 

Governor  John  A.  Martin  (a  vigorous  opponent  of  the 
Prohibitory  Amendment  when  it  was  first  agitated,  con- 
verted to  the  cause  of  prohibition  by  the  results  of  the 
law),  in  his  farewell  message  to  the  state  legislature,  Janu- 
ary, 1889  :  "  Fully  nine-tenths  of  the  drinking  and  drunk- 
enness prevalent  in  Kansas  eight  years  ago  has  been 
abolished.  *  *  *  Notwithstanding  the  fact  that  the  pop- 
ulation of  the  state  is  steadily  increasing,  the  number  of 
criminals  confined  in  our  penitentiary  is  steadily  decreas- 
ing. Many  of  our  jails  are  empty,  and  all  showed  a 
marked  falling  off  in  the  number  of  prisoners  confined. 
The  dockets  of  our  courts  are  no  longer  burdened  with 
long  lists  of  criminal  cases.  In  the  capital  district  con- 
taining a  population  of  nearly  60,000,  not  a  single  crim- 
inal case  was  on  the  docket  when  the  present  term  began. 
The  business  of  the  police  courts  of  our  larger  cities  has 
dwindled  to  one-fourth  of  its  former  proportions,  while  in 
cities  of  the  second  and  third  class  the  occupation  of 
police  authorities  is  practically  gone.  These  suggestions 
and  convincing  facts  appeal  alike  to  the  reason  and  the 
conscience  of  the  people.     They  have  reconciled   those 


TESTIMONY    FROM    KANSAS  111 

who  doubted  the  success  and  silenced  those  who  opposed 
the  policy  of  prohibiting  the  liquor  traffic." 

United  States  Senator  P.  B.  Plumb  (always  known  as 
very  conservative  on  the  prohibition  question)  :  "That 
there  has  been  a  great  diminution  in  the  consumption  of 
liquor  and  in  the  consequent  drunkenness  and  crime  in 
the  state,  as  the  result  of  the  exclusion  of  the  saloon,  is 
everywhere  noted  and  confessed.  In  fact,  no  evidence  on 
this  point  is  more  conclusive  than  that  the  brewers  and 
distillers  are  so  urgent  to  have  saloons  re-established. 
They  are  not  spending  large  sums  of  money  in  this  mat- 
ter for  fun." 

J.  W.  Hamilton,  state  treasurer,  Nov.  24,  1889  :  "  It  is 
well  known  to  my  friends  that  when  the  prohibition 
question  was  first  agitated  I  was  an  an ti- prohibitionist. 
I  did  all  in  my  power  to  defeat  the  amendment.  I  was 
what  they  called  a  Glick  re-submissionist.  But  I  was 
mistaken  then.  The  prohibitory  law  has  my  endorsement, 
not  alone  because  it  is  the  doctrine  of  my  party  but 
because  I  believe  it  is  right.  I  do  not  see  how  any  fair- 
minded  man  who  has  lived  in  Kansas  for  the  past  five 
years  can  be  otherwise  than  in  favor  of  the  law." 

Judge  W.  C.  Webb,  April  4,  1890  :  "I  voted  in  1880 
against  the  prohibitory  amendment.  For  four  or  five 
years  afterwards  I  thought  my  opinion  as  to  probable 
results  was  likely  to  be  vindicated.  But  it  is  not  so  now. 
Prohibition  has  driven  out  of  Kansas  the  open  saloon, 
and  has  accomplished  a  vast  deal  of  good — a  thousand- 
fold more  than  any  license  law  ever  did  or  ever  could.  A 
return  to  whisky  and  saloon  rule  would  not  bring  an 
additional  dollar  to  the  state,  nor  grow  an  additional 
bushel  of  corn,  nor  give  a  single  ounce  of  bread  to  the 
hungry,  nor  clothe  the  nakedness  of  a  single  beggar." 

During  the  Eastern  Amendment  campaigns  of  1889 
Mr.  W.  P.  Tomlinson,  editor  of  the  Daily  Democrat  of 
Topeka,  was  induced  to  make  speeches  against  prohibition. 
He  ventured  to  assert  that  prohibition  was  a  failure,  and 


112  PKOHIBITION   IN    KANSAS 

was  quoted  as  saying  that  "  dives  and  joints  "  flourished 
in  Topeka,  and  that  "  all  the  iniquities  of  secret  selling  " 
were  "added  to  the  lesser  evils  of  the  open  traffic." 
Upon  his  return  to  Topeka,  Mr.  Tomlinson  was  put  under 
oath  by  the  county  attorney,  and  the  following  testimony 
was  taken  : 

Q.  Do  you  know  of  the  existence  of  an  open  saloon 
in  Shawnee  county  at  the  present  time  ? 

A.     I  do  not. 

Q.  Do  you  know  of  an  open  saloon  in  Shawnee  county 
within  the  past  two  years  ? 

A.     No  ;  I  do  not. 

Q.  Do  you  know  of  any  secret  place  in  Shawnee 
county  where  liquor  can  be  bought  by  the  drink  ? 

A.     I  do  not. 

There  is  no  lack  of  testimony  in  favor  of  prohibition 
from  public  men  of  Maine,  Iowa,  Kansas  and  other 
states,  but  this  will  be  sufficient  in  this  connection. 

Much  of  this  testimony  is  taken  from  "  The  Encyclo- 
pedia of  Prohibition." 

What  more  could  be  added  to  the  force  and  complete- 
ness of  this  evidence  ?  Such  an  array  of  witnesses  in 
support  of  any  cause  would  be  ample  to  fully  establish  it  in 
any  just  court  or  with  any  honest  people.  No  candid  or  well 
informed  man  or  woman  denies  the  effectiveness  of  the 
prohibition  remedy  for  this  evil.  Only  people  of  the 
baser  sort,  those  who  favor  the  use  of  liquors  and  advocate 
vice  ;  or  those  who  are  not  well  informed,  being  misled 
by  misrepresentations  of  party  papers  ;  or  those  who  do 
so  for  political  and  party  uses,  oppose  prohibition  or 
advocate  any  other  remedy. 


WHERE    PROHIBITION    DOES   NOT    SUCCEED  113 

It  is  true  that  prohibitory  laws  will  not  enforce  them- 
selves any  better  than  other  criminal  laws.  It  is  also  true 
that  where  prohibitory  laws  have  not  been  enforced  it  has 
been  for  the  reason  that  the  managers  of  the  party  in 
power,  or  the  officials  whose  sworn  duty  it  was  to  execute 
the  laws,  either  or  both,  were  not  in  sympathy  with  the 
law,  and,  because  of  political  purposes  or  of  vicious  or 
money  interests,  connived  with  and  upheld  the  law 
breakers.  This  has  been  the  one  and  only  cause  of 
prohibition  proving  in  any  case  a  failure  or  of  not  being 
an  entire  success. 


CHAPTER  XVII 

NATIONALIZATION  OF  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC 

This  is  the  new  remedy  for  the  evil.  Whisky  at  cost. 
Remove  the  temptation  to  sell,  by  having  the  government 
furnish  liquors  to  all  who  want  at  cost. 

The  contention  is  that  the  evil  of  intemperance  is  kept 
up  by  the  incentive  of  the  profits  made  in  the  manufacture 
and  sale  of  the  liquors,  and  that  if  the  incentive  to  sell 
liquors  is  removed  the  evil  will  disappear.  And  there 
are  many  good  people  who  have  expressed  their  approval 
of  this  new  remedy  for  all  the  evils  of  the  drink  curse. 
How  easy  it  is  to  forget  the  main  question  in  considering 
one  of  its  incidents.  It  is  a  case  of  trying  to  cure  a  dis- 
ease by  treating  one  of  its  symptoms. 


114         REDUCING   THE    COST   INCREASES    CONSUMPTION 

Among  the  evils  of  the  use  of  strong  drink  are  the 
deadly  poison  instilled  in  the  veins  and  the  terrible 
appetite  engendered  in  its  victims.  Furnishing  liquors 
at  cost  would  not  neutralize  the  poison  or  lessen  the 
appetite  or  remove  the  temptation.  It  surely  would  not 
lessen  the  quantity  used.  On  the  contrary  it  would 
increase  the  consumption  of  liquors.  Reducing  the  cost 
of  beefsteak,  or  butter,  or  blankets,  or  coffee,  or  coal,  or 
calico,  increases  the  use  of  these  articles.  But  there  is 
this  difference  :  people  need  beefsteaks  and  butter  and  it 
would  be  good  for  them  to  have  plenty.  They  do  not 
need  whisky  and  wine,  and  the  less  they  use  of  them  the 
better  off  they  are.  If  beefsteaks  and  butter  could 
be  furnished  at  ten  cents  per  pound  instead  of  twenty 
cents  it  would  tend  to  build  up  strong  men  and  women. 
But  furnishing  whisky  and  wine  at  two  cents  a  glass 
instead  of  ten  cents  would  not  benefit  the  drinker  or  the 
drinker's  family.  It  would  be  far  better  to  make  the 
stuff  two  dollars  a  glass,  or  twenty  dollars  a  glass. 

We  thought  we  were  through  with  arguments  of  this 
kind.  This  straw  has  all  been  threshed  over  and  over 
again.     Must  loe  flail  it  some  more? 

Whisky  at  cost !  If  that  is  the  remedy  we  need,  what 
was  the  matter  with  us  and  our  fathers  fifty  years  ago  ? 
What  was  wrong  with  Massachusetts,  when  the  people  had 
plenty  of  good,  pure  New  England  rum  at  a  very  mod- 
erate cost — three  cents  a  glass,  and  sold  at  every  grocery? 
AVhy  wasn't  Maine  vastly  better  off  with  a  good  supply 
of  rum,  and  plenty  of  jails  well  filled,  and  the  houses  so 
well  ventilated  when  all  they  had  to  do  was  to  just  put 
an  old  hat  or  coat  into  the  place  where  the  glass  ought  to 
be,  when  the  breeze  was  too  fresh?     And  now  the  poor 


MAINE    AND   CONNECTICUT   FIFTY    YEARS    AGO  115 

people  can't  get  good  rum  or  brandy  any  more  so  handy 
and  cheap  as  they  once  could  ! 

And  what  was  the  difficulty  with  old  Connecticut,  the 
"  Land  of  Steady  Habits,'"  with  her  cider  brandy  still  in 
every  valley  and  on  every  hillside  ?  When  a  hundred 
brandy  factories  could  be  counted  from  one  hilltop  ?  iVnd 
when  all  the  good  people,  preachers,  deacons  and  all, 
with  but  few  exceptions,  used  to  drink  ?  And  when 
drinking  was  popular  and  "  respectable  ?  "  And  when 
it  was  not  particularly  disreputable  for  gentlemen  or 
ladies  to  get  drunk  just  occasionally  ?  And  what  was 
the  matter  with  Ohio  where  the  good  old  farmer  used  to 
lay  in  twenty  or  thirty  barrels  of  good  cider  for  winter 
use  when  it  got  "  hard  ?  " 

And  remember  they  had  2mre  liquors  in  those  times. 
There  was  no  "  incentive  "  to  adulterate  them,  you  know, 
and  besides  they  didn't  know  how,  and  they  used  it  them- 
selves. 

And  then  they  had  all  the  adjuncts  which  come  along 
when  people  use  good  pure  liquor  and  can  get  it  real 
cheap,  "  at  cost  "  as  it  were.  They  had  red  eyes,  and  red 
noses  and  red  faces,  and  they  had  ragged  coats  and 
patched  trousers,  and  they  used  to  get  drunk  and  pound 
their  wives  and  throw  the  children  out  of  doors,  and  they 
had  delirium  tremens,  the  genuine  article.  They  used  to 
have  visions  of  snakes  and  dragons  and  imps  and  devils 
and  fiery  furnaces. 

Yes,  they  had  a  good  supply  of  all  these  things  and  a 
great  many  more  of  a  similar  character,  ear  marks,  signs 
and  tokens  of  the  reign  of  "  rum  and  brandy  at  cost." 

Besides,  we  have  had  a  class  of  pretended  temperance 
advocates   who   urged   that  the  "  doggeries "   and   "  low 


ra^iviiBsT^.. 


116  MAKE   DRINKING   RESPECTABLE 

dives "  should  be  suppressed,  and  liquors  sold  only  in 
"  respectable  "  saloons  and  by  men  of  "  good  moral  char- 
acter,"' and  under  proper  restrictions.  This  new  remedy 
is  in  the  same  line  only  a  good  deal  more  so.  The  prop- 
osition is  to  have  the  government  furnish  the  liquors  to 
the  people,  openly  and  above  aboard,  and  in  a  respect- 
able and  lawful  manner,  and  under  proper  restrictions — 
that  is,  not  to  minors  under  a  certain  age,  or  to  men 
when  drunk,  or  to  those  known  to  habitually  abuse  their 
families.  The  government  agent  to  be  of  good  character 
and  to  use  due  "  discretion  "  in  furnishing  the  liquors.  It 
would  seem  that  a  bare  statement  of  the  proposition 
would  be  sufficient  to  condemn  it  in  the  mind  of  any 
true  friend  of  temperance.  We  must  not  undertake  by 
law  to  make  vice  respectable. 

We  are  told  that  "  The  only  safe  practicable  deterrent  is 
the  firm  restraint  of  a  responsible  public  officer  charged 
with  the  duty  of  proper  limitation."  (Hon.  Henry  Winn, 
in  New  Nation,  for  Oct.  31,  1891.)  The  "  practicable 
deterrent "  is  in  "  proper  limitation  "  "  to  drinking  men 
in  quantities  not  to  permit  drunkenness."  Contemplate 
the  "  duty  "  and  "  responsibility  "  of  such  a  public  officer 
to  determine  the  proper  "  limit  "  or  capacity  for  liquor 
which  each  drinker  might  safely  indulge  in  I  The  officer  is 
empowered  to  decide  for  each  drinker  where  virtue  ends 
and  vice  begins  1 

We  have  tried  licensing  and  regulating  saloons  and 
gambling  houses  and  brothels,  but  we  have  not  lessened 
vice  in  that  way.  Now  we  are  to  have  a  new  remedy  for 
the  drink  evil,  and  the  social  evil,  and  the  gambling  evil. 
We  are  to  have  whisky  at  cost,  and  prostitution  at  cost 
and  gambling  at  cost,  and  in  this  way  we  are  very  soon  to 


WHISKEY   AT   COST  I      PROSTITUTION    AT    COST  !         117 

eliminate  and  blot  out  these  evils  I  Because  by  removing 
the  incentive  of  making  money  from  the  vices  of  men  and 
women,  we  at  once  relieve  vice  of  its  charms  and  appetite 
and  passion  of  its  force  I 

No.  This  will  never  do.  If  we  want  to  lessen  vice, 
we  must  not  make  the  government  the  agency  for  license, 
regulation  and  supply  ;  and  for  making  it  legitimate, 
respectable  and  safe  !  We  must  make  it  an  outlaw. 
Make  it  unlawful,  disreputable  and  criminal.  We  must 
suppress  vice  and  visit  crime  with  the  heavy  hand  of  the 
law. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

NATIONAL  HIGHWAYS— RAILWAY  AND  TELE 
GRAPH  LINES 

From  ancient  times,  it  has  been  a  first  duty  of  civilized 
governments,  a  prime  requisite  of  civilization,  to  provide 
roads,  bridges  and  other  convenient  and  adequate  means 
of  transit  and  communication  throughout  the  dominions 
and  from  one  country  to  another.  The  people  of  one  part 
of  a  country  need  the  products,  the  wheat  or  wool,  the 
cattle  or  corn,  the  tools  or  fabrics,  which  are  produced 
in  other  localities,  and  they  need  to  communicate  with 
the  people  of  other  localities,  and  the  problem  of  how  to 
increase  the  facilities  for  interchange  of  commodities,  for 


118  ANCIENT    HIGHWAYS 

the  transmission  of  intelligence,  and  the  transit  of  the 
people,  has  always  been  one  that  has  commanded  the 
attention  of  the  people  and  the  statesmen  of  all  enlight- 
ened nations.  At  least  it  has  been  the  case  in  other 
countries,  and  was  in  our  own  in  early  days,  but  our 
modern  statesman  is  so  profoundly  engaged  in  the  con- 
sideration of  three  great  problems,  namely  :  1.  Which 
party  shall  be  kept  in  power,  2.  Whether  the  tariff 
shall  be  raised  or  lowered,  and,  3.  How  to  properly  pro- 
mulgate the  fact  of  our  unparalleled  greatness  and  pros- 
perity, that  they  do  not  deem  it  worth  while  to  devote 
precious  time  to  matters  of  such  trifling  import. 

The  noted  Appian  Way  of  the  Romans,  called  the 
"  Queen  of  Roads,"  built  over  two  thousand  years  ago, 
and  extending  from  Rome  to  Brundusium,  was  probably 
the  finest  great  roadway  ever  built  by  man  in  any  age. 
The  road  bed  was  prepared  with  great  care,  rocks  were 
cut  through,  small  valleys  filled,  ravines  bridged  and  a 
solid  foundation  made  through  swamps.  The  road  was 
paved  with  large  blocks  of  basaltic  lava  carefully  cut  and 
laid  on  a  bed  of  concrete. 

Among  the  most  remarkable  highways  of  any  ancient 
people  were  those  built  by  the  Incasof  Peru.  They  made 
roads  hundreds  of  miles  in  extent,  substantially  built, 
having  uniform  grades,  and  traversing  high  mountain 
ranges  and  wide  desert  wastes,  and  with  post  houses  at 
stated  distances.  These  works  have  been  much  noted  by 
historians  as  indicating  a  high  state  of  civilization. 

In  early  times  in  this  country  our  statesmen  were 
engaged  in  the  work  of  building  canals  and  post  roads, 
deeming  such  works  to  be  of  great  importance  to  the 
nation.  The  Erie  and  Champlain  canals,  built  and  operated 


STATE    ROADS    AND   CANALS  119 

by  the  state  of  New  York,  have  been  a  great  beneficence, 
not  only  to  the  people  of  that  state,  but  to  the  people  of 
many  other  states.  These  works  have  accomplished  much 
in  insuring  cheap  freights  from  the  west  to  the  seaboard. 
They  have  made  it  possible  for  many  a  poor  man  to  have 
a  whole  loaf  when  otherwise  he  would  have  had  but  a 
half  loaf  or  no  bread.  Post  roads  were  built  to  a  limited 
extent  by  the  nation  through  trackless  forests  from  one 
state  to  another.  Before  the  war  the  people  of  Tennessee 
and  some  other  states  had  admirable  macadamized  roads. 
These  examples  show  that  our  people  were  in  times  past 
mindful  of  ''promoting  the  general  welfare"  in  this 
respect. 

Most  European  nations  are  very  much  in  advance  of 
our  own  in  the  attention  given  to  the  public  interests  in 
providing  good  highways  for  public  use  and  benefit. 
They  usually  have  much  better  turnpike  roads  than  we 
do,  and  their  railways  are  usually  either  owned  or  man- 
aged by  the  government  or  are  under  strict  government 
control.  But  the  people  of  Australia  lead  all  other 
countries  in  the  matter  of  managing  their  railways  in 
the  interests  of  the  people. 

To  provide  public  highways,  convenient  and  suitable 
for  all,  built  for"the  use  and  benefit  of  all  the  people,  and 
made  as  nearly  free  as  possible,  is  a  province  of  govern- 
ment which  demands  constant  attention  and  should  never 
be  lost  sight  of. 

Justice  Bradley,  of  the  United  States  Supreme  Court 
states  the  well  recognized  principle  of  national  law  in 
regard  to  highways  as  follows  : — 

"  When  a  railroad  is  chartered  it  is  for  the  purpose  of 
'perjorming  a  duty  which  belongs  to  the  state  itself.     It  is 


120  SUPREME   COURT  DECISIONS 

the  duty  and  prerogative  of  the  state  to  provide  means  of 
intercommunication  between  one  part  of  its  territory  and 
another."  Also  the  court  has  held  :  "  It  has  never  been 
considered  of  any  importance  that  the  road  was  built  by 
the  agency  of  a  private  corporation.  No  matter  who  is 
the  agent,  the  function  performed  is  that  of  the  state.'^ 

Time  was  when  the  turnpike  road  was  the  great  high- 
way, but  that  is  all  changed.  Now  the  railwav  track  is  the 
great  highway,  and  the  telegraph  wire  the  swift  messenger. 
The  "  main  traveled  road  "  is  comparatively  a  by-way. 

It  is  true  that  the  railway  has  been  a  wonderful  means 
for  the  advancement  of  civilization.  It  has  made  many 
things  possible  and  easy  which  otherwise  would  be  impos- 
sible or  very  difficult.  From  wide  distances  it  brings  the 
ore  to  the  furnace,  the  wheat  to  the  mill,  the  fleece  to  the  fac- 
tory. It  climbs  mountains,  leaps  chasms,  and  glides'over 
boundless  plains  and  wide  rivers  with  ease  and  safety. 
It  gives  value  to  the  distant  mine  and  valley  and  forest. 

It  is  true  that  the  telegraph  has  been  a  marvelous 
power  for  disseminating  intelligence  through  the  length 
and  breadth  of  the  land.  It  gathers  the  story  of  great 
events,the  currents  of  mighty  thought  and  action,and  sends 
them  on  the  wings  of  the  morning.  It  makes  possible 
the  modern  great  daily  newspaper,  telling  of  the  exploits 
and  achievements  of  men  in  the  far  corners  of  the  earth. 

It  is  also  true  that  the  common  people  do  not  derive 
the  benefit  from  these  great  agencies  which  they  should  do 
or  might  do  if  managed  for  the  people  and  in  their  inter- 
est. They  are  not  made  public  highways  in  a  proper 
sense,  but  are  monopolies  over  which  the  nation  has  very 
little  control.  The  people  have  a  right  to  expect  and  to 
demand  and  receive  a  full  measure  of  advantage  from 
these  agencies.     And  it  is  the  duty  of  the  government  to 


RAILWAYS   NOT    MANAGED    FOR    PUBLIC    GOOD  121 

secure  such  advantage  for  them.  That  this  can  not  be  done 
without  government  ownership  and  management  is  a  fact 
which  is  slowly  but  surely  dai&ning  upon  the  minds  of  the 
American  people. 

The  unjust  and  dishonest  management  of  railway  prop- 
erties,the  exorbitant  charges,  the  vexatious  discriminations 
and  the  waste  and  loss  of  the  present  system,  forms  one 
of  the  greatest  burdens  upon  the  people  of  this  country. 
And  not  this  alone,  but  the  fact  that  the  railway  interests 
are  becoming  more  and  more  powerful  in  controlling  and 
disturbing  financial  and  business  affairs,  in  dictating 
legislation  and  in  corrupting  the  fountains  and  defeating 
the  ends  of  justice,  that  makes  them  a  menace  and  danger 
to  the  usefulness  and  perpetuity  of  our  free  institutions. 

The  railways  are  getting  bigger  than  the  government — 
that  is,  more  powerful.  They  can  spend  more  money  in 
controlling  legislation,  in  employing  able  and  unscrup- 
ulous lawyers  and  agents  to  oppose  the  people's  interests 
and  defeat  the  ends  of  justice,  than  the  people  have  to 
use  in  any  effort  to  control  and  regulate  them. 

The  Goulds,  Vanderbilts,  Huntingtons  and  Dillons, 
vastly  more  than  the  Carnegies,  Rockefellers,  Spreckles 
and  all  the  other  plutocrats,  are  the  masters  we  should 
fear.  Their  rules  of  propriety  and  justice  are  to  "  charge 
what  the  traffic  will  bear,"  and  "the  public  be  damned." 
In  modern  railway  management  as  in  modern  politics 
"  the  Decalogue  and  the  Golden  Rule  have  no  place."  In 
no  other  field  for  monopolies  or  combines  is  there  such  room 
for  extensive  jobbery  and  plunder.  By  their  devices  and 
manipulations  of  great  properties  and  interests  they  are  able 
to  divert  the  flow  of  a  large  part  of  the  nation^ s  wealth  from 
its  proper  channels  into  their  coffers. 


CHAPTER  XIX 

METHODS  OF  CONSTRUCTING  AND  CAPITALIZING 
RAIL  WA  YS 

No  man  on  the  outside  can  know  all  the  "  ways  that 
are  dark  and  the  tricks  that  are  vain  "  of  the  railway 
schemer,  but  there  are  some  things  that  a  ''  wayfaring 
man  "  may  know.  In  a  general  way,  here  is  a  history  of 
many  ordinary  cases  of  railway  construction  and  capital- 
ization. 

There  appeared  to  be  a  demnnd  for  a  new  line  of  rail- 
road, or  room  for  anotlier  liiiG.  A  company  was  organized 
in  the  interest  of  a  certain  corporation,  but  which  was 
not  known  in  the  new  company.  There  were  some  local 
directors  and  the  old  company  was  represented  by  men 
duly  selected  who  were  to  manage  and  control. 

Then  the  agents  and  ''  hustlers  "  of  the  company  went 
along  the  line  and  held  public  meetings.  They  had  good 
speakers,  and  the  importance  of  railroads  in  building  up 
a  country  was  not  under-estimated.  Town  Councils  and 
County  Commissioners  were  urged  to  bear  a  hand.  The 
company  must  have  free  right  of  way  and  depot  grounds 
and  must  have  enough  bonds  and  stock  subscribed  on  the 
line  to  at  least  grade  the  road.  Every  "  public  spirited 
citizen "  was  expected  to  take  a  good  block  of  stock. 
Solicitors  were  employed  who  would  double  discount  any 
real  estate  man,  insurance  agent  or  lightning-rod  peddler  I 

If  the  line,  by  a  moderate   detour,  could   be  made  to 

122 


THE  PEOPLE  INDUCED  TO  CONTRIBUTE       123 

strike  either  of  two  rival  towns,  they  were  put  upon  their 
mettle.  The  one  which  "  secured  the  road "  was  to 
rapidly  become  a  great  city,  while  that  which  was  "  left 
out  in  the  cold  "  was  soon  to  be  a  "  howling  waste."  In 
like  manner  opposite  sides  of  each  town  were  put  in  active 
competition  for  the  coveted  prize  ;  it  being  shown  that 
close  to  the  depot  would  be  the  chosen  place  for  all  the 
fine  dry  goods  and  fancy  stores  and  the  banks  I  Why,  a 
railroad  craze  is  nearly  as  bad  as  a  boom. 

The  road  being  built  was  operated  for  a  year  or  two 
without  paying  any  dividends.  The  schemers  did  not 
care  to  have  the  balance  sheet  make  any  showing  of 
profit.  The  farmers  found  the  stock  was  poor  property. 
Then  the  men  who  were  managing  the  deal  watched  for  a 
favorable  opportunity,  when  stocks  were  low  and  business 
dull,  to  buy  up  the  out-lying  stock  at  as  low  a  price  as 
possible.  If  the  game  was  large  enough  and  the  company 
strong  enough  they  brought  to  bear  all  the  power  at  com 
mand  to  depress  the  market  and  produce  a  condition 
favorable  for  buying  at  a  small  price.  They  then  improved 
the  property,  perhaps  made  some  new  connecting  line 
which  enhanced  its  value,  and  waiting  for  the  right  oppor- 
tunity, re-organized,  incorporating  two  or  more  lines  in 
the  new  company.  They  "  capitalized  it  " — that  is  placed 
the  total  par  value  of  the  stock — at  as  high  a  figure  as 
they  thought  it  would  bear,  say  fifty  or  one  hundred  or 
two  hundred  per  cent  above  the  original  cost.  The  stock 
and  bonds  were  sold  to  people  who  had  money  to  invest 
in  such  "  railroad  securities."  The  manipulators  bought 
in  the  stock  at  say  fifty  or  forty  or  thirty  cents  on  the 
dollar  of  original  cost,  and  they  sold  at  one  hundred  and 
fifty  or  two  hundred  or  three  hundred  cents  on  the  dollar. 


124  HIGH    CAPITALIZINQ 

And  this  is  "profits  of  constructing  and  capitalizing." 
And  they  take  occasion  to  re-organize  whenever  suitable 
opportunity  offers. 

Sometimes  roads  are  capitalized  at  five  times  the  orig- 
inal cost.  Mr.  C.  Wood  Davis,  in  his  excellent  article 
entitled  "  Should  the  Nation  Own  the  Railways,"  in  the 
Arena  for  July  and  August,  18<91,  states  that  the  Kansas 
Midland,  costing  but  $10,200  per  mile  is  capitalized  at 
$53,000,  and  that  Mr.  Gould  has  managed  to  float  the 
securities  of  the  St.  Louis  and  Iron  Mountain  Railway, 
costing  about  $11,000  at  $65,000  per  mile. 

It  is  in  such  ways  that  the  railway  "  manipulator  "  is 
able  to  pocket  a  sum  equal  to  or  greater  than  the  entire 
value  of  a  railway  line,  in  making  one  big  deal.  And  by 
such  means  they  become  multi-millionaires,  money  kings, 
and  financial  rulers  of  the  nation.  Of  course,  it  is  all 
wrong  to  speak  of  this,  because  Mr.  Dillon  says  that  "  a 
citizen,  simply  as  a  citizen,  commits  an  impertinence 
when  he  questions  the  right  of  a  corporation  to  capitalize 
its  properties  at  any  sum  whatever." 

The  manipulators  having  made  a  "  ten  strike  "  in  con- 
structing and  capitalizing  at  high  values,  endeavor  to 
make  the  roads  pay  dividends  on  the  watered  stock.  If 
the  property  is  poor,  the  big  operator,  looking  for  a  favor- 
able opportunity,  unloads  his  stock  which  is  no  longer  a 
source  of  revenue,  and  seeks  new  fields  for  investment  and 
profit.  He  turns  off  his  lean  stock  at  as  good  a  price  as 
y )0ssible,  and  hunts  some  fat  stock  that  can  be  bought  low 
and  multiplied. 

There  are  also  in  the  ordinary  field  of  the  great  opera- 
tor other  ways  whereby  he  is  able  to  take  care  of  himself 
before  providing  interest  to  bondholders  or  dividends  on 


REASONS   FOR    NATIONAL  OWNERSHIP  OF  RAILWAYS    125 

stock.  There  are  high  salaries  for  the  chief  and  his  friends ; 
big  commissions  to  brokers  and  soliciting  agents  which 
will  bear  a  "  divide  ; "  low  rates  of  freight  given  to  per- 
sonal agents  or  friends  and  profits  of  the  short  rate 
divided  between  the  official  and  shipper,  and  other  ways, 
some  of  which  will  be  considered 


CHAPTER  XX 

FOUR  REASONS  FOR  NATIONAL  OWNERSHIP  OF 
RAILWAYS 

Some  of  the  many  reasons  why  the  nation  should  own 
the  railways  ;  the  corrupting  influences  and  practices 
under  our  present  system  upon  legislation  and  the  action 
of  the  courts  ;  the  dangers  to  our  financial  and  business 
interests  from  the  railway  money  power  ;  the  many  unjust 
discriminations  under  present  management  :  the  savings 
which  can  be  made  in  many  ways  in  managing  and 
operating  the  roads  and  the  increased  safety  and  security 
to  life  and  property  which  may  be  obtained  by  national 
ownership,  are  enumerated  under  twenty-four  heads,  as 
follows,  in  this  and  two  following  chapters. 

1.  The  corrupting  influences  of  present  railway  manage- 
ment upon  elections^  legislation  and  the  courts. 

Under  this  head  we  have  the  use  of  stocks,  bonds, 
money  and  passes  to  influence  legislators,  commissioners, 


126  CREDIT  MOBILIER.       ERIE  MANAGEMENT 

judges  and  jurymen.  This  has  been  done  in  state  and 
national  legislation,  and  in  cases  in  the  courts  where  the 
railway  companies  have  sought  to  defeat  the  ends  of  jus- 
tice. One  of  the  best  known  cases  is  the  notorious 
'"'  Credit-Mobilier  "  scandal,  in  which  the  stock  of  the 
Union  Pacific  Railroad  was  used  in  Congress  to  secure 
legislation  favorable  to  the  company  in  constructing  and 
obtaining  subsidies  and  also  to  secure  the  acceptance  of 
sections  of  the  road  which  were  not  built  according  to 
the  requirements  of  government. 

Mr.  F.  B.  Thurber,  in  an  article  entitled  "  The  Railroads 
and  the  People,"  in  Scribner^s  Magazine  of  December, 
1880,  gives  instances  in  this  line  as  follows  :  Mr.  Jay 
Grould,  in  giving  his  evidence  before  a  committee  of  the 
New  York  legislature,  which  was  examining  the  affairs  of 
the  Erie  Railroad  in  1873,  stated  as  follows  : — 

"I  do  not  know  how  much  I  paid  toward  helping 
friendly  men.  We  had  four  states  to  look  after,  and  we 
had  to  suit  our  politics  to  circumstances.  In  a  demo- 
cratic district  I  was  a  democrat ;  in  a  republican  district 
I  was  a  republican,  and  in  a  doubtful  district  I  was 
doubtful  ;  but  in  every  district  and  at  all  times  I  have 
been  an  Erie  man." 

The  committee  stated  in  their  report  as  follows  :  "  It 
is  further  in  evidence  that  it  has  been  the  custom  of  the 
managers  of  the  Erie  Railway,  from  year  to  year  in  the 
past,  to  spend  large  sums  to  control  elections  and  to 
influence  legislation.  Mr.  Gould  admitted  the  payment 
of  large  sums  to  influence  legislation.  The  memory  of 
this  witness  was  very  defective  as  to  details,  and  he  could 
only  remember  large  transactions  ;  but  could  distinctly 
recall  that  he  had  been  in  the  habit  of  sending  money 
into  the  numerous  districts  all  over  the  state,  either  to 
control  nominations  or  elections  for  senators  and  members 


JAY  GOULD  AS  A  FACTOR  IN    LEGISLATION  127 

uf  Assembly.  He  considered  that,  as  a  rule,  such  invest- 
inents  paid  better  than  to  wait  till  the  men  got  to  Albany, 
and  added  the  significant  remark,  when  asked  a  question, 
that  '  it  would  be  as  impossible  to  specify  the  numerous 
instances  as  it  would  to  recall  to  mind  the  numerous 
freight  cars  sent  over  the  Erie  road  from  day  to  day.' 
It  is  not  reasonable  to  suppose  that  the  Erie  railway  has 
been  alone  in  the  corrupt  use  of  money  for  the  purposes 
named  ;  but  the  sudden  revolution  in  the  direction  of  this 
company  has  laid  bare  a  chapter  in  the  secret  history  of 
railroad  management  such  as  has  not  been  permitted 
before.  It  exposes  the  reckless  and  prodigal  use  of  money 
wrung  from  the  people  to  purchase  the  election  of  the 
people's  representatives,  and  to  bribe  them  when  in 
office." 

Mr.  James  Parton  stated  in  a  lecture  :  "  Men  who 
bribe  and  are  bribed  nowadays  talk  about  the  matter 
without  a  blush.  An  officer  of  the  New  Jersey  Legisla- 
ture told  me  how  the  bribing  was  done,  and  how  he  did 
it  himself.  The  railroad  man  said  to  him,  '  Come  to  my 
room  at  eight  o'clock  this  evening,'  and  when  the  farmer- 
legislator  got  there  the  railroad  man  said  :  '  By  the  way, 
Mr.  Smith,  you  did  not  call  upon  us  to  subscribe  toward 
the  expenses  of  your  election.  I  know  it  must  have  cost 
you  a  great  deal,  and,  better  late  than  never,  here  is 
something  toward  it,'  and  the  railroad  man  passed  over  a 
pile  of  money  much  more  than  the  farmer's  election 
expenses.  '  I  know^',  added  the  corruptionist,  by  way  of 
casual  remark,  '  that  you  would  not  vote  for  any  bill  that 
would  not  he  good  and  honest,  but  there  is  a  bill  of  ours 
now  before  your  house  that,  you  will  take  my  word  for  it, 
is  for  the  best  interests  of  the  community;  examine  it, 
and  if  you  conscientiously  think  so,  too,  of  course  you 
will  vote  for  it.'" 

In  1880  the  New  York  Board  of  Trade  and  Transporta- 
tion published  a  report  in  which  they  most  forcibly  stated 
the  case  as  follows  : — 


128       OPINIONS  OF  NEW  YORK  CHAMBER  OF  COMMERCE 

"  Honestly  and  equitably  managed  railroads  are 
the  most  beneficent  discovery  of  the  century,  but 
perverted  by  irresponsible  and  uncontrolled  corporate 
management,  in  which  stock-watering  and  kindred 
swindles  are  tolerated,  and  favoritism  in  charges  is  per- 
mitted, they  become  simply  great  engines  to  accomplish 
unequal  taxation,  and  to  arbitrarily  redistribute  the  wealth 
of  the  country.  When  this  state  of  things  is  sought  to  be 
perpetuated  by  acquiring  political  -power  and  shaping  legis- 
lation through  corrupt  use  of  money,  the  situation  grows  more 
serious^ 

A  committee  of  the  New  York  Chamber  of  Commerce 
made  a  report  to  that  body  in  1880  in  which  they  used 
language  as  follows  : — 

"  We  cannot  uphold  a  system  of  operating  public  high- 
ways which  is  honey-combed  with  abuses  and  which  is 
controlled  absolutely  by  a  few  individuals  who  tax  pro- 
duction and  commerce  at  will,  and  who  practically  dictate 
what  reward  the  producer,  manufacturer,  and  merchant 
shall  secure  for  his  labor." 

Messrs.  Gould  and  Dillon  now  ask  of  Congress  a  farther 
extension  of  the  mortgage  indebtedness  of  the  Union  and 
Central  Pacific  roads,  of  which  debts  they  propose  to  pay 
no  part,  either  principal  or  interest,  but  ask  for  an  exten- 
sion of  a  hundred  years  at  a  rate  of  one  and  one-half  per 
cent  interest.  It  does  not  seem  possible  that  any  man  in 
Congress  could  labor  for  such  a  proposition  with  very 
much  zeal  unless  he  were  "  influenced  "  to  do  so  by  some 
potent  incentive. 

2.  National  ownership  of  railroads  loould  bring  to  an  end 
the  power  which  the  great  railroad  managers  have  over  the 
financial  and  business  affairs  of  the  country.  They  could  no 
longer  wreck  railways,  plunder  shareholders  and  precip- 
itate financial  disasters, 


rp:port  of  committee  of  united  states  senate    129 

*  "  In  1874,  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  in  response 
to  a  general  demand,  appointed  a  special  committee  on 
transportation,  composed  of  Senators  AVilliam  Windom, 
of  Minnesota  ;  John  Sherman,  of  Ohio  ;  RoscoeConkling, 
of  New  York  ;  H.  G.  Davis,  of  West  Virginia  ;  T.  M. 
Norwood,  of  Georgia  ;  J.  W.  Johnson,  of  Virginia  ;  John 
H.  Michell,  of  Oregon,  and  S.  B.  Conover,  of  Florida. 
The  committee  occupied  the  entire  summer  of  1874  in 
making  an  exhaustive  examination  of  the  subject,  and  in 
their  report  we  find  the  following  : — 

"  In  the  matter  of  taxation,  there  are  to-day  four  men 
representing  the  four  great  trunk  lines  between  Chicago 
and  New  York,  who  possess,  and  who  not  infrequently 
exercise,  powers  which  the  Congress  of  the  United  States 
would  not  venture-to  exert.  They  may  at  any  time,  and 
for  any  reason  satisfactory  to  themselves,  by  a  single 
stroke  of  the  pen,  reduce  the  value  of  the  property  in  this 
country  by  hundreds  of  millions  of  dollars.  An  additional 
charge  of  five  cents  per  bushel  on  the  transjDortation  of 
cereals  would  have  been  equivalent  to  a  tax  of  forty-five 
millions  of  dollars  on  the  crop  of  1873.  No  Congress 
would  dare  to  exercise  so  vast  a  power  except  upon  a 
necessity  of  the  most  imperative  nature  ;  and  yet  these 
gentlemen  exercise  it  whenever  it  suits  their  supreme  will 
and  pleasure,  without  explanation  or  apology.  With  the 
rapid  and  inevitable  progress  of  combination  and  consol- 
idation, these  colossal  organizations  are  daily  becoming 
stronger  and  more  imperious.  The  day  is  not  distant,  if  it 
has  not  already  arrived,  ivhen  it  loill  he  the  duty  of  the 
statesman  to  inquire  whether  there  is  less  danger  in  leaving 
the  property  and  industrial  interests  of  the  people  thus 
wholly  at  the  mercy  of  a  few  men,  who  recognize  no  respon- 
sibility but  to  their  stockholders,  and  no  principle  of  action 

♦This  is  copied  from  a  valuable  article,  entitled  "The  Railroads  and  the 
People"  by  F.  B.  Thurber,  in  Scribner's  Magazine  for  December,  1880.  (Tht 
italics  are  the  author '«.) 


180  DANGEROUS  POWER  OF  RAILWAY  KINGS 

but  personal  and  corporate  aggrandizement,  thanin  adding 
somewhat  to  the  power  and  patronage  of  a  governwent 
directly  responsible  to  the  people  and  entirely  under  their 
control.  Report  ®f  the  United  States  Senate  Committee 
on  Transportation  Routes,  page  158." 

The  dangerous  power  which  could  be  wielded  by  a  com- 
bination of  two  or  more  unscrupulous  railway  kings,  to 
depress  values  and  jeopardize  the  financial  interests  of  the 
country  in  order  to  get  control  of  coveted  properties,  can 
not  be  contemplated  by  any  patriotic  citizen  without 
fearing  the  most  disastrous  consequences.  There  are 
times  of  depression  in  business,  when  we  have  short  crops 
and  foreign  nations  have  plenty  and  the  balance  of  trade 
is  against  us  ;  when  we  have  had  floods  and  frosts  and 
drouths  ;  when  Chinch  bugs  and  armj  worms  have 
devoured  ;  when  the  farmer  has  little  ready  money  and 
the  hum  from  the  factory  is  silenced  ;  when  the  merchant's 
goods  remain  useless  on  his  shelves  and  when  men  feel 
that  but  one  more  straw  is  needed  to  break  the  camel's 
back.  Then  is  the  favored  opportunity  of  the  railroad 
wrecker.  In  order  to  gain  his  selfish  ends  and  add  still  more 
to  his  illgotten  and  useless  wealth,  he  stops  at  no  calamity 
which  might  befall  the  people  as  a  result  of  his  inordinate 
greed.  Though  tens  of  thousands  go  supperless  or  home- 
less or  unsheltered  from  the  storm,  matters  not  to  him. 

3.  National  Ownership  ivould  stop  the  ^^pass^'  evil.  People 
who  rode  on  railways  would  all  have  to  buy  tickets. 
There  would  be  no  "  dead  heads."  The  rich  would  have 
to  pay  as  well  as  the  poor.  Notwithstanding  laws  to  the 
contrary,  it  is  estimated  that  fully  ten  percent  of  railway 
travel  goes  without  pay.  Passes  are  given  whenever  it 
seems  to  the  interest  of  the  companies,  for  the  purpose  of 


HIGH  CAPITALIZING  131 

influencing  government  officials  who  have  any  power  to 
favor  the  companies,  to  newspaper  men,  to  railway  men 
and  officials  and  their  relatives  and  friends,  to  large 
shippers,  to  those  who  seem  to  have  political  power  and 
influence,  and  often  for  no  good  purpose. 

From  whatever  cause  granted  they  are  a  tax  upon  the 
roads  which  in  the  end  must  be  paid  by  the  people  who 
use  the  roads. 

4.  There  ivould  be  no  high  capitalizing,  and  opportu- 
nities for  multi-millionaires  to  scoop  in  the  wealth  of  the 
people  by  millions  in  one  big  deal  would  not  be  so  plen- 
tiful as  now.  In  no  other  way  possible  can  the  million- 
aire amass  wealth  so  rapidly  as  by  this  scheme  of  manip- 
ulating railway  securities.  If  the  Goulds  and  Dillons — 
the  "  dangerous  wealthy  classes  "  — are  a  danger  and  a 
menace  to  the  welfare  and  stability  of  popular  govern- 
ment and  a  drain  upon  the  wealth  of  the  people,  (and 
what  well  informed  man  does  not  know  that  they  are,) 
then  here  is  the  place,  more  than  any  other  place,  to  begin 
to  buttress,  to  build  breakwaters  and  seawalls  to  oppose 
this  dangerous  power  and  protect  the  interests  of  the 
American  people. 

Mr.  Sidney  Dillon,  President  of  the  Union  Pacific 
Railway,  in  his  article  on  "  The  West  and  the  Railroads  " 
in  the  North  American  Revieio  for  April,  1891,  in  which 
he  speaks  at  length  of  the  advantages  which  the  railways 
have  been  to  the  country,  goes  on  to  say:  — 

"  Grave  charges  are  made  :  as,  for  instance,  that  the 
roads  have  in  numerous  instances  been  fraudulently  over- 
capitalized and  excessively  loaded  with  bonded  debt  ; 
that  they  monopolize  traffic  ;  that  they  charge  unjust 
rates  of  freight  in  order  to  pay   dividends   on  fictitious 


132  SIDNEY    DILLON    ON    CAPITALIZATION 

values  of  stock  ;  that  they  favor  one  class  of  shippers  at 
the  expense  of  another  class ;  that  they  permit  the 
accumulation  of  unreasonably  large  fortunes,  and,  to  use 
a  favorite  phrase  of  demagogic  orators,  constantly  '  tend 
to  make  the  rich  richer  and  the  poor  poorer.' 

"  Legislation  has  been  called  in  to  give  force  to  the 
theories  involved  in  these  declarations,  particularly  in 
the  states  west  of  the  Mississippi,  which  happen  to  be 
the  communities  that  owe  their  birth,  existence,  and 
prosperity  to  these  very  railways.  Statutory  enact- 
ments interfere  with  the  business  of  the  railway, 
even  to  the  minute  details,  and  always  to  its  detriment. 
This  sort  of  legislation  proceeds  on  the  theory  that  the 
railroad  is  a  public  enemy  ;  that  it  has  its  origin  in  the 
selfish  desire  of  a  company  of  men  to  make  money  out  of 
the  public  ;  that  it  will  destroy  the  public  unless  it 
is  kept  within  bounds  ;  and  that  it  is  impossible  to 
enact  too  many  laws  tending  to  restrain  the  monster. 
The  advocates  of  these  statutes  may  not  state  their 
theory  in  these  exact  words  ;  but  these  words  certainly 
embody  their  theory,  if  they  have  any  theory  at  all  beyond 
such  prejudices  as  are  born  of  the  marriage  between  ignor- 
ance and  demagogism. 

"  Many  of  the  grievances  that  are  urged  against  rail- 
ways are  too  puerile  to  be  seriously  noticed,  but  the 
reader  will  pardon  a  few  words  as  to  'over-capitalization.' 
Now  it  is  impossible  to  estimate  in  advance  the  product- 
ive power  of  this  useful  and  untiring  servant.  Sometimes 
a  railway  is  capitalized  too  largely  and  then  it  pays 
smaller  dividends  ;  sometimes  not  largely  enough,  and 
then  the  dividends  are  much  in  excess  of  the  usual  interest 
of  money.'' 

(That  is  to  say,  that  the  aim  is  to  capitalize  them  at 
such  a  figure  that  the  stock  will  pay  only  a  fair  interest 
on  the  investment.  If  capitalized  at  actual  cost  the 
present  charges  would  show  too  large  gains.  Appearances 
must  be  considered.     Author.) 


MR.  DILLON  ON  THE  RIGHT  OF  FREE  SPEECH  133 

"  In  the  former  case  stockholders  are  willing  to  reduce 
the  face  of  their  shares,  or  wait  until  increase  of  popula- 
tion increases  revenue  ;  in  the  latter  they  accept  an 
enlarged  issue.  But,  as  a  matter  of  reason  and  principle, 
the  question  of  capitalization  concerns  the  stockholders 
and  the  stockholders  only.  A  citizen,  simply  as  a  citizen, 
commits  an  impertinence  when  he  questions  the  right  of  any 
corporation  to  capitalize  its  properties  at  any  sum  whatever. 
That  any  railway  anyivhere  in  a  republic ,  should  be  a  mon 
opoly,  is  not  a  supposahle  case" 


CHAPTER  XXI 

FIFTEEN  REASONS  FOR  NATIONAL    OWNERSHIP 
OF  RAIL  WA  YS. 

5.  Government  Oivnership  would  stop  unjust  discrimin- 
ations, by  the  use  of  which,  like  the  pass  evil,  one  class 
of  people  or  one  locality  is  favored  at  the  expense  of 
others.  There  are  many  ways  of  discriminating,  some  of 
which  will  be  considered  in  another  place.  The  most 
common  discrimination  is  against  points  where  there  is 
no  opportunity  for  competition,  shippers  being  charged 
higher  rates  at  such  points  than  over  the  same  roads  for 
longer  distances  where  there  is  a  competing  line.  This  is 
one  of  the  most  common  complaints  against  the  roads. 
To  endeavor  to  remedy  such  evils  as  this  we  have  state 
legislation,  the  interstate  commerce  law  of  congress,  and 
state  and  national  commissions.  But  all  such  efforts  are, 
in  the  main,  futile.  These  laws  are  constantly  evaded  in 
one  way  and  another,  and  without  national  ownership  of 
the  roads  this  evil  will  continue. 


134  REBATES  TO  STANDARD   OIL    COMPANY 

"The  testimony  in  the  Pennsylvania  investigation 
showed  that  the  trunk  lines  of  railroads  paid  in  rebates 
to  the  Standard  Oil  Company,  within  the  period  of  eighteen 
months  $10,151,218.  In  a  report  to  the  New  York  Chamber 
of  Commerce,  the  Committee  on  Railroad  Transportation 
of  that  body  alludes  to  this  subject  as  follows  :  — 

"  How  oblivious  of  their  obligations  as  common  carriers, 
and  how  regardless  of  public  rights,  are  the  great  trunk 
lines,  is  illustrated  by  their  making  an  agreement  with 
the  Standard  Oil  Company  (Article  4)  to  protect  them 
'  against  loss  or  injury  from  competition.'  What  has 
happened  in  the  case  of  the  Standard  Oil  Company  may 
happen  in  other  lines  of  business.  With  the  favor  of  the 
managers  of  the  trunk  lines,  what  is  to  prevent  commerce 
in  the  rest  of  the  great  staples  from  being  monopolized 
in  a  similar  manner  ?  Already,  indeed,  it  is  taking  this 
course.  One  or  two  firms  in  Baltimore,  Philadelphia, 
New  York  and  Boston,  with  their  branch  houses  in  the 
W^est,  are,  by  the  favor  of  the  railroads,  fast  monopolizing 
the  export  trade  in  wheat,  corn,  cattle,  and  provisions, 
driving  their  competitors  to  the  wall  with  absolute  cer- 
tainty, breaking  down  and  crushing  out  the  energy  and 
enterprise  of  the  many  for  the  benefit  of  the  favored  few."* 

We  now  come  to  consider  some  of  the  savings  which 
might  be  effected  by  national  ownership  in  the  ordinary 
operating  expenses  of  the  roads. 

6.  Most  of  the  cost  of  advertising  would  he  saved.  A 
large  amount  of  money  is  constantly  being  expended  by 
the  various  companies  in  advertising  the  advantages  of 
their  lines.  This  is  done  in  newspapers  and  periodicals, 
and  by  books,  pamphlets,  circulars,  maps,  chromos,  etc. 
All  of  these  expenses  except  such  as  is  necessary  in 
advertising  the  running  of  trains,  probably  ninety  per 

(♦From  article  of  Mr.  F.  B.  Thurber,  in  Smftner's  of  December,  1880.) 


COST  OF  SOLICITORS TRAFFIC  ASSOCIATIONS  135 

cent  of  the  whole  amount,  would  be  unnecessary  under 
national  ownership.  There  would  be  no  more  occasion 
for  advertising  any  advantage  of  particular  lines  of  rail- 
way, than  there  now  is  of  advertising  the  advantages  of 
any  particular  mail  route  by  the  government.  Traffic 
and  travel  would  then  seek  the  shortest  or  most  conve- 
nient route,  without  expending  large  sums  of  money  in 
trying  to  send  it  some  other  way. 

7.  The  entire  cost  of  soliciting  traffic  and  travel  would 
he  saved.  Each  company  now  employs  soliciting  agents, 
gives  commissions  to  the  local  agents  of  other  roads  for 
sale  of  tickets,  pays  commissions  to  brokers  for  securing 
freights,  maintains  expensive  special  ticket  and  freight 
offices  off  its  lines,  and  in  many  other  ways  spends  money 
to  secure  business.  This  would  all  be  saved  and  would 
mean  cheaper  railroad  rates. 

8.  It  would  relieve  the  railroad  business  of  the  burden  of 
the  sixty-eight  Traffic  Associations.  This  institution  is 
the  "  Combine  "  and  regulator  between  several  companies. 
They  employ  a  high-priced  manager  with  a  full  corps  of 
assistants,  and  they  require  a  central  location  in  a  large 
city  with  commodious  and  well  appointed  offices.  The 
manager  is  the  umpire  who  regulates  the  proportion  and 
direction  of  traffic  going  over  the  different  lines.  It  is  a 
combine  to  keep  up  rates,  to  send  the  farmer's  products  over 
the  longest  lines,  to  get  as  much  money  as  possible  out  of 
the  public,  and  to  endeavor  to  fairly  distribute  the  spoils 
between  the  combining  companies. 

9.  All  legal  expenses  would  be  saved.  Under  this  head 
are  salaries  of  attorneys  and  their  assistants,  and  sums 
paid  to  legislators,  judges  and  other  officials  to  "  influence" 
legislation  and  corrupt  the  sources  of  justice.     The  ablest 


136  SAVING  IN  LEGAL  EXPENSES 

attorneys  are  employed,  and  higher  salaries  paid  than  are 
received  by  any  judges  upon  the  bench.  They  also  have 
use  for  a  company  of  lobbyists,  bribers  and  attorneys  and 
others  "to  do  the  dirty  work."  The  companies  have 
many  uses  for  able  attorneys  ;  to  secure  nominations  by 
the  political  parties  of  men  who  are  favorable  to  the  rail- 
way interests  and  to  work  for  their  election  ;  to  have  an 
oversight  of  legislation  ;  to  secure  the  passage  or  repeal  of 
laws  in  the  railway  interest ;  to  assist  judges  and  com- 
missioners in  properly  "  construing  "  laws  which  they 
cannot  otherwise  abrogate  ;  to  see  that  the  interests  of 
the  corporation  are  not  infringed  upon  by  other  com- 
panies ;  to  make  the  most  of  the  "  law's  delays  "  and  to 
make  all  the  use  possible  of  the  many  tricks  and  devices 
which  may  be  resorted  to  to  wear  out  the  patience  and 
exhaust  the  resources  of  those  who  have  the  hardihood  to 
contend  with  one  of  these  giant  corporations.  They  have 
political  influence  ;  they  have  long  purses  ;  they  are  fully 
armed  and  equipped  for  any  legal  contest  ;  they  never 
get  tired,  never  grow  old,  never  die,  never  lose  their 
grip,  and  they  are  in  business  for  what  is  in  it  for  them- 
selves. 

It  is  true,  that  under  present  conditions  there  is  a 
legitimate  use  for  railway  attorneys,  but  in  the  main  the 
money  expended  under  the  head  of  "  legal  expenses " 
and  what  Mr.  Gould  called  the  "  India  rubber  account,"  is 
used  to  corrupt  the  fountains  and  defeat  the  ends  of 
justice.  The  Australian  railways,  which  are  built,  owned 
and  managed  by  the  state,  are  operated  directly  in  the 
interests  of  the  people  and  without  the  expenditure  of  a 
single  dollar  for  legal  expenses. 

During  the  war  the  national  government,  under  the  sys- 


SAVING    IN    COST    OF    OFFICIALS  137 

tern  of  war  taxes,  collected  from  the  New  York  Central 
Railroad  company  a  half  million  dollars.  The  company 
claimed  that  the  tax  was  not  authorized  and  employed 
Mr.  Roscoe  Conkling  to  bring  suit  to  compel  the  govern- 
ment to  refund  the  money.  Mr.  Conkling  was  at  that 
time  United  States  Senator,  and  political  boss  of  the 
republican  party  of  the  State  of  New'  York,  and  he 
appeared  as  counsel  for  the  company  in  the  court  at 
Canandaugua  to  try  the  case,  opposed  by  a  District  Attor- 
ney who  was  counsel  for  the  government  and  before  a 
judge  who  made  the  charge  to  the  jury,  both  of  whom 
owed  their  official  existence  to  Mr.  Conkling.  The  com- 
pany recovered  the  half  million  dollars. 

10.  It  would  save  about  ninety-jive  per  cent  of  the  present 
cost  of  high  salaried  officials  and  expensive  offices.  There 
are  about  five  hundred  railway  companies,  each  of  which 
has  its  president,  vice-president,  general  manager,  general 
freight  agent,  general  passenger  agent,  auditor,  treasurer, 
and  other  officials,  with  assistants,  and  a  full  corps  of 
secretaries,  clerks,  book-keepers,  etc.  And  this  calls  for 
expensive  general  headquarters,  which  are  often  off  the 
main  line  in  some  large  city,  and  so  placed  as  to  assist 
in  advertising  the  road  and  where  proper  attention  can  be 
given  to  exercising  an  influence  on  the  value  of  stocks, 
either  in  raising  or  depressing  them.  The  total  of  this  vast 
expenditure  of  money  is  a  very  large  sum  compared  with 
what  it  would  cost  to  oversee  the  operating  of  the  roads 
under  economic  national  ownership. 

11.  It  would  save  a  large  expenditure  in  hooJc-heeping. 
There  are  accounts  of  freights  and  fares  sent  over  different 
lines  on  pro  rata  charges  which  must  be  credited  up  to 
the  separate  roads,  accounts  of  all  the  officials  and  com- 


138  FEWEK   OFFICES — UNIFORM   RATES 

plex  machinery  of  management  under  the  present  system, 
none  of  which  would  be  required  under  national  owner- 
ship. 

12.  There  would  be  a  large  reduction  in  local  offices  and 
officials.  Now  each  company  has  its  local  ticket  and 
freight  office,  its  yards  and  switches,  with  the  necessary 
complement  of  officers  and  men  at  each  station.  Under 
national  ownership,  all  trains  would  run  to  central  depots 
and  in  most  cities  but  one  complement  of  offices  and 
officials  and  yards  would  be  required.  The  railway 
business  would  be  simplified  just  as  the  mail  business  is 
now.  And  there  would  be  no  hack  transfers  from  one 
depot  to  another  to  vex  the  tired  traveler. 

13.  It  woidd  give  us  uniform  rates,  on  all  lines  and 
everywhere, instead  of  the  vexatious,  irregular,  uncertain, 
discriminating  rates  of  freights  and  fares  under  present 
management. 

14.  It  would  give  us  a  reduction  of  freight  rates  and 
fares  to  a  legitimate  business  basis.  This  would  be  made 
possible  by  cutting  off  the  many  leaks  caused  by  extra- 
vagance, jobbery,  loss  and  waste  under  the  present  system, 
and  by  giving  to  the  people  a  large  part  of  the  stealings 
and  profits  which  now  go  to  the  railway  officials  or  to 
the  shareholders.  Passenger  fares  on  the  Austrian  rail- 
ways are  about  forty  per  cent  of  what  they  are  with  us. 
Where  the  Hungarian  railways  formerly  carried  two 
passengers  at  one  and  a  half  cents  per  mile,  they  now 
carry  five  at  three-fourths  of  a  cent  per  mile.  They  have 
uniform  rates  under  what  they  term  the  "  zone  system," 
which  makes  a  unit  rate  for  every  te.  .niles  or  fraction  of 
ten.  The  large  reduction  in  rates  which  would  be  made 
possible  by  national  ownership  would  be  a  vast  saving 


PROF.    HADLEY    ON    RAILWAY    RATES  139 

to  the  people  of  this  country,  and  travel  would  be  greatly 
increased.  There  are  no  exceptions  to  a  rule  of  this  kind — 
that  use  increases  as  price  decreases.  Under  national 
management  when  properly  organized  we  may  reasonably 
expect  a  reduction  of  fifty  per  cent  in  the  cost  of  trans- 
portation. 

Prof.  Arthur  L.  Hadley  in  his  article  in  the  Forum  for 
April,  1891,  on  "  Railway  Passenger  Rates,"  in  which  he 
argues  that  we  already  have  good  and  cheap  passenger 
service  and  that  rates  can  not  be  much  reduced  without 
working  a  hardship  to  the  companies,  says :  "The  assump- 
tion so  frequently  made,  that  a  reduction  in  rates  would 
cause  an  enormous  increase  in  travel  in  this  country,  is 
for  the  most  part  a  pure  assumption,  not  borne  out  by 
the  facts."  That  is  poor  special  pleading.  That  a  reduc- 
tion in  the  cost  of  anything  which  the  people  need  and 
can  not  well  afford  to  buy,  is  followed  by  a  corresponding 
increase  in  the  amount  used,  is  a  fact  so  well  known  that 
it  is  useless  for  anyone  to  deny  it.  And  the  use  of  such 
an  argument  in  trying  to  defend  the  present  monopolies 
shows  the  dearth  of  reasons  for  maintaining  the  present 
plundering  and  wasteful  railway  regime. 

15.  There  would  he  a  large  saving  in  the  cost  of  our 
mail  service.  The  nation  now  pays  the  railway  corpora- 
tions large  sums  for  transporting  the  mails,  and  with  the 
railways  owned  by  the  government  the  people  would  gain 
what  profits  there  is  to  the  companies  in  this  trans- 
portation. 

16.  It  would  absorb  the  express  business.  The  nation 
now  does  a  parcel  delivery  business  in  connection  with 
the  mail  service,  which  is  very  much  cheaper,  for  articles 
which  may   be    admitted  in   the    mails,   than   express 


140       THE  EXPRESS  MONOPOLY  WOULD  END 

charges.  The  government  could  readily  undertake  to  do 
all  kinds  of  express  business  as  a  part  of  the  postal  sys- 
tem and  to  do  it  with  celerity  and  security,  and  vastly 
cheaper  than  it  is  now  done  by  express. 

The  express  business  is  a  vast  monopoly  added  to  the 
railway  monopoly.  The  express  companies  pay  the  rail- 
way companies  a  profit  on  the  cost  of  hauling  express 
cars  and  then  make  immense  profits  out  of  their  business. 
The  United  States  Express  Company,  the  Adams  Express 
Company  and  Wells,  Fargo  &  Co.  are  cormorants  whose 
heads  would  be  cut  off  by  national  ownership  of  the  rail- 
ways. 

17.  There  would  no  longer  he  a  scarcity  of  cars  to  do 
the  business  of  the  country.  There  are  railways  which 
have  been  wrecked  or  plundered  by  the  managers,  which 
are  very  poorly  equipped,  and  others  where  high  salaries 
and  good  dividends  to  shareholders  have  been  paid  at  the 
expense  of  providing  a  proper  supply  of  rolling  stock. 
Again,  when  cars  are  scarce  it  gives  an  excuse  to  officials 
to  favor  their  own  business  agents,  or  shippers  with  whom 
they  are  interested,  being  short  when  others  need  cars. 
And  a  great  saving  would  be  effected  in  this  connection 
by  using  cars  on  lines  where  for  the  time  or  season 
there  was  the  most  business,  as  in  handling  the  wheat, 
corn,  cattle,  hogs,  oranges,  etc.,  at  times  when  those 
commodities  needed  to  be  moved,  and  when  on  other 
lines  there  was  not  as  much  demand  for  cars. 

18.  It  would  save  the  expense  of  useless  parallel  lines. 
In  many  cases  roads  have  been  built  for  considerable 
distances  paralelling  other  lines.  Each  company  must 
have  its  complete  through  line,  and  so  we  have  thousands 
of  miles  of  railways  running  through  the  same  territory 


ECONOMY  OF  SHORT  ROUTES  141 

and  competing  for  the  same  trade.  The  constructing  and 
operating  of  these  roads  has  been  an  added  expense  to  the 
cost  of  transport.  While  localities  have  been  benefited 
by  such  competition,  in  the  end  the  cost  comes  out  of  the 
people.  The  nation  would  not  need  some  of  these  lines 
unless  to  form  double  track  routes. 

19.  Traffic  would  go  hy  the  shortest  route.  Now  pass- 
engers and  freight  are  often  sent  by  a  round-about  way, 
either  to  secure  business  by  competing  roads  or  under  the 
regulation  of  traffic  associations.  This  shows  that  if  one 
line  can  afford  to  haul  a  car  of  freight  800  miles  for  a 
certain  price,  the  line  which  gets  the  same  money  for 
hauling  the  same  freight  but  600  miles  is  making  an 
exorbitant  charge.  Also  in  the  same  line  there  are 
unnecessary  long  hauls  dictated  by  companies  to  whose 
interest  it  is  to  haul  as  far  as  possible  over  their  own 
lines,  or  by  traffic  managers  to  secure  as  much  business 
as  possible  for  their  associations. 


CHAPTER  XXII 

FIVE  REASONS  FOR  NATIONAL  OWNERSHIP  OF 
RAIL  WA  YS 

20.  There  would  he  more  safeguards  for  the  security  of 
life  and  property,  more  guards  at  street  crossings,  more 
interlocking  plants  at  crossings  of  railway  lines,  better 
appliances  for  heating  and  lighting,  and  in  short  more 
consideration  for  the  health,  comfort  and  convenience  of 
the  traveling  public.  Because  the  roads  would  be  run 
for  the  benefit  of  the  people,  and  their  interest  would  be 
paramount  to  all  others.  These  facts  are  demonstrated 
by  experience  in  the  Australian  railways,  which  are 
managed  by  the  government,  where  there  is  a  much  less 
proportion  of  casualties  than  in  the  United  States. 

21.  Besides  the  more  common  or  better  known  ways 
and  schemes  of  the  railway  corporations  or  their  managers 
for  gaining  power  and  wealth,  there  are  other  fields 
which  they  enter,  and  other  lines  of  business  in  which 
they  engage.  Wherever  the  railway  takes  up  a  line  of 
business  those  with  whom  they  compete  may  as  well 
give  it  up  at  once,  for  they  will  find  it  a  losing  game. 
Nobody  can  compete  with  a  railway  corporation  while  it 
uses  its  power  to  build  up  its  own  business  by  destroying 
that  of  its  rivals.  In  these  outside  lines  of  business  the 
companies  often  become  very  oppressive  and  aggravating. 

Sometimes  the  companies  carry  on  these  added  lines  of 

142 


RAILWAYS    MONOPOLIZE   THE   COAL   TRADE  143 

business  directly,  but  more  commonly  under  some  other 
firm  or  corporate  name.  Often  officials  of  the  companies 
undertake  outside  lines  of  business,  either  employing 
agents,  or  sharing  profits  with  some  man  or  firm  already 
in  business,  or  organizing  companies  for  the  purpose. 
Here  are  some  of  the  kinds  of  business  in  which  they 
engage  :  they  build  towns  and  cities,  using  lands  that  are 
given  them  or  buying  lands  for  the  purpose,  and  using 
the  power  of  the  company  to  build  them  up  by  discrim- 
inating against  other  localities  so  as  to  throw  as  much 
business  as  possible  to  the  new  town.  This  comes  in  as  a 
part  of  the  profits  of  the  railway  construction,  and  large 
sums  are  made  in  this  way. 

22.  They  buy  coal  fields  and  to  a  large  extent  monopolize 
the  coal  trade.  Most  of  the  valuable  coal  fields  of  the 
country  are  owned  by  the  railways  or  railway  officials. 
Their  exactions  from  consumers  of  coal,  and  their  dis- 
criminations against  other  mine  owners  and  shippers, 
have  often  been  very  oppressive  and  burdensome.  Mr. 
C.  Wood  Davis,  in  his  excellent  article  in  the  Arena  for 
July  and  August,  1891,  gives  instances  of  this  as  follows  : 

*'  Under  corporate  control,  railways  and  their  officials 
have  taken  possession  of  the  majority  of  the  mines  which 
furnish  the  fuel  so  necessary  to  domestic  and  industrial 
life,  and  there  are  but  few  coal  fields  where  they  do  not 
fix  the  price  at  which  so  essential  an  article  shall  be  sold, 
and  the  whole  nation  is  thus  forced  to  pay  undue  tribute. 

''  Controlling  rates  and  the  distribution  of  cars,  rail- 
way officials  have  driven  nearly  all  the  mine  owners  who 
have  not  railways  or  railway  officials  for  partners,  to  the 
wall.  For  instance  in  Eastern  Kansas,  on  the  line  of  the 
St.  Louis  and  San  Francisco  Railway  Company,  were  two 
coal  companies,  whose  plants  were  of  about  equal  capacity, 
and  several  individual  shippers.     The  railway  company 


144        EXAMPLES   OF   OUTRAGEOUS   DISCRIMINATIONS 

and  its  officials  became  interested  in  one  of  the  coal  com- 
panies, and  such  company  was,  by  the  rebate  and  other 
processes,  given  rates  which  averaged  but  forty  per  cent 
of  the  rates  charged  other  shippers,  the  result  being  that 
all  the  other  shippers  were  driven  out  of  the  business,  a 
part  of  them  being  hopelessly  ruined  before  giving  up  the 
struggle.  In  addition  to  gross  discriminations  in  rates 
this  railway  company  practised  worse  discriminations  in 
the  distribution  of  cars  ;  for  instance,  during  one  period 
of  five  hundred  and  sixty-four  days,  as  was  proven  in 
court,  they  delivered  to  the  Pittsburg  Coal  Company, 
2,371  empty  cars  to  be  loaded  with  coal,  although  such 
company  had  sale  for,  and  capacity  to  produce  and  load, 
during  the  same  period,  more  than  15,000  cars.  During 
the  same  time  this  railway  company  delivered  to  the 
Rogers  Coal  Company,  in  which  the  railway  company 
and  C.  W.  Rogers,  its  vice-president  and  general  man- 
ager, were  interested,  no  less  than  15,483  coal  cars,  while 
456  were  delivered  to  individual  shippers.  In  other 
words,  the  coal  company  owned  in  large  part  by  the 
railway  and  its  officials  was  given  eighty-two  per  cent  of 
all  the  facilities  to  get  coal  to  market,  although  the 
other  shippers  had  much  greater  combined  capacity  than 
had  the  Rogers  Coal  Company. 

"  During  the  last  four  months  of  the  period  named, 
and  when  the  Pittsburg  Coal  Company  had  the  plant, 
force,  and  capacity  to  load  thirty  cars  per  day,  they 
received  an  average  of  one  and  a  fourth  cars  per  day, 
resulting,  as  was  intended,  in  the  utter  ruin  of  a  pros- 
perous business  and  the  involuntary  sale  of  the  property, 
while  the  railway  coal  company,  the  railway  officials,  and 
the  accommodating  friends  who  operated  the  Rogers  Coal 
Company,  made  vast  sums  of  money  ;  and  when  all  the 
other  shippers  had  thus  been  driven  off  the  line  the  price 
of  coal  was  advanced  to  the  consumer. 

"  On  another  railway,  traversing  the  same  coal-field, 
the  railway  or  its  officials  became  interested  in  the  Keith 
and   Perry   Coal  Company — the  largest   coal   company 


J..SJ    ■  "~ 


RAILWAYS   OPPRESSING   COAL    COMPANIES  J^^.        ::=r=- 


doing  business  on  the  line — and  here  the  plan  seems  to 
have  been  in  addition  to  the  manipulation  of  rates,  to 
starve  other  mine  operators  out,  and  force  them  to  sell 
their  coal  to  the  Keith  and  Perry  Company,  by  failing  to 
furnish  the  needed  cars  to  those  who  did  not  sell  their 
coal  to  the  Keith  and  Perry  Company  at  a  very  low 
price. 

"  When  the  Keith  and  Perry  Company  had  a  great 
demand  for  coal,  such  parties  as  sold  the  product  of  their 
mines  to  that  company  were  furnished  with  cars,  but  for 
the  other  operators  cars  were  not  to  be  had,  such  cars  as 
were  brought  to  the  field  being  assigned  to  such  parties  as 
were  loading  to  the  Keith  and  Perry  Company,  because 
that  company  furnished  the  coal  consumed  by  the  loco- 
motives of  the  railway. 

"  One  operator,  after  being  for  years  forced  in  this  way 
to  sell  his  product  to  the  Keith  and  Perry  Company,  or 
see  his  several  plants  stand  idle,  has,  in  recent  months, 
been  obliged  to  build  some  seven  miles  of  railway  in 
order  to  reach  four  different  roads,  and  thus  have  a  fight- 
ing chance  for  cars,  although  all  these  railways  were 
provided  with  coal  mines  owned  by  the  corporations  or 
their  officials. 

"  In  Arkansas,  Jay  Gould,  or  his  railway  company, 
own  coal  mines,  and  the  coal  is  transported  to  the 
neighboring  town  at  low  rates,  and  there  is  an  ample 
supply  of  cars  for  such  mines  ;  but  the  owners  of  an 
adjoining  mine  are  forced  to  haul  their  coal  some  eighteen 
miles  to  the  same  town  in  wagons,  as  the  rates  charged 
them  over  Mr.  Gould's  railway  are  so  high  as  to  absorb 
the  value  of  the  coal  at  destination. 

"  The  Colorado  Coal  and  Iron  Company  produce  all  the 
anthracite  coal  sold  in  Colorado.  It  is  mined  at  Crested 
Butte,  which  is  150  miles  nearer  Leadville  than  Denver, 
yet  this  coal  is  sold  in  Leadville  for  $9.00  to  the  individual 
consumer,  while  the  same  coal  is  hauled  150  miles  farther, 
and  sold  to  the  individual  consumer  for  an  advance  of 
but  twenty-five  cents  per  ton  over  the  Leadville  price. 


146         RAILWAY  go's  AS  LUMBER  DEALERS  AND  SHIPPERS 

23.  Railroad  companies  also  secure  timber  lands,  erect  saw 
mills  and  do  a  large  lumber  business.  And  also  Tinite  with 
some  of  the  "  protected  "  lumber  producers  in  the  exaction 
of  exorbitant  prices  for  lumber. 

24.  They  employ  agents  or  become  interested  with  men- 
engaged  in  business  and  become  shippers  over  their  own 
lines,  in  this  way  handling  grain,  livestock  or  other  com- 
modities. This  forms  a  wide  field  for  their  operations, 
especially  for  unscrupulous  railway  managers,  who,  by 
giving  their  agents  especial  advantages  in  lower  rates  or 
rebates,  and  a  better  supply  of  cars,  make  their  road  a 
hard  one  for  competing  shippers  to  use  and  enable  them 
to  use  the  railroad  power  to  enrich  themselves. 

''  The  only  answer  thus  far  made  by  the  apologists  for 
these  practices  has  been  to  denounce  those  who  opposed 
them  as  '  communists  '  or  ^  socialists.'  So  bare  of  facts 
and  so  hard  pushed  for  arguments  favorable  to  their  case 
are  they,  that  Messrs.  Vanderbilt  and  Jewett  must  fairi 
adopt  this  policy,  and  conjure  up  the  phantom  of  social- 
ism to  shield  their  practices  1  In  their  joint  letter  to  the 
Hepbarn  Committee  they  suggest  that  the  staid  and  con- 
servative merchants  of  the  ISew  York  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce are  fast  tending  in  that  direction,  their  words 
being  :  — 

"  The  growth  of  a  disregard  of  property  in  this  country 
is  very  marked,  and  railroad  corporations  offer  favorable 
forms  of  attack.  The  encouragement  by  such  a  body  as 
the  Chamber  of  Commerce  to  such  ideas  will  not  stop  at 
railroad  corporations,  but  will  reach  all  kinds  of  asso- 
ciated capital,  and  will  not  stop  before  it  reaches  all 
property.  This  growing  tendency  to  socialistic  principles 
is  one  of  the  dangerous  signs  of  the  times,  and,  if  not 
checked,  will  produce  scenes  of  disaster  that  would  appall 
the  country. 

^'  Some  months  after  this,  when  the  Legislative  com- 


OPINIONS  OF  NEW  YORK  CHAMBER  OF  COMMERCE      147 

mittee  had  pronounced  the  principal  charges  made  by 
the  Chamber  of  Commerce  '  fully  proven,'  the  committee 
of  that  body  having  the  matter  in  charge  alluded  to  this 
subject,  in  their  report  to  the  Chamber,  as  follows  :  — 

"  '  Your  committee  beg  that  the  members  of  the  Cham- 
ber of  Commerce,  will  carefully  compare  these  utterances 
of  Messrs.  Vanderbilt  and  Jewett  with  the  findings  of  the 
Legislative  committee.  The  assertion  that  the  action  of 
this  Chamber  tends  to  the  encouragement  of  socialistic 
or  communistic  principles,  is  on  a  parity  with  much  of 
the  other  reasoning  of  the  presidents  of  the  great  trunk 
lines.  They  seem  to  be  entirely  oblivious  of  the  fact  that 
it  is  their  disregard  of  public  rights,  and  not  the  efforts 
which  this  Chamber  has  made  to  compel  their  observation, 
which  is  chiefly  responsible  for  the  growth  of  commun- 
istic sentiment  in  this  state.  If  railroads  were  not  public 
highways,  upon  which  all  shippers,  as  well  as  passengers, 
are  entitled  to  equal  rights  ;  if  the  discovery  of  steam,  and 
its  application  to  the  purposes  of  transportation,  and  all  its 
attendant  benefits,  could  be  esteemed  alone  the  private  prop- 
erty of  these  gentlemen,  then  the  argument  of  Messrs.  Van- 
derbilt and  Jewett  might  be  considered  valid,  and  the  efforts 
of  our  committee  seditious,  socialistic,  and  worthy  of  con- 
demnation. 

"  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  that  your  committee 
have  no  sympathy  with  socialists  or  communists  who 
want  something  for  nothing  ;  this  class  of  persons  might 
perhaps  find  fault  with  your  committee  for  being  capital- 
ists ;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  we  can  not  uphold  a  system 
of  operating  public  highways '  which  is  honey-combed 
with  abuses,  and  which  is  controlled  absolutely  by  a  few 
individuals  who  tax  production  and  commerce  at  will, 
and  who  practically  dictate  what  reward  the  producer, 
manufacturer,  and  merchant  shall  receive  for  his  labor.'' 
(From  article  of  Mr.  Thurber  in  Scribner  of  December, 
1880.) 

The   big   railway   corporation   is   many   sided.     It  is 


148         ANNUAL  LOSS  FKOM  PRESENT  RAILWAY  SYSTEM 

always  reaching  out  for  other  fields  from  which  to  gather 
a  harvest.  Its  mills  are  big  and  it  exacts  heavy  tolls.  It 
is  insatiable.  It  has  a  powerful  grasp  and  wonderful 
capacity  for  the  absorption  of  wealth. 

It  is  difficult  to  estimate  the  annual  loss  to  the  nation 
and  the  people  from  the  present  railway  management. 
We  know  that  there  is  a  large  number  of  railway  mil- 
lionaires with  wealth  ranging  from  $5,000,000  to  $100- 
000,000,  and  that  this  wealth  has  been  mostly  accumulated 
in  the  past  twenty  to  thirty  years,  and  it  is  still  rapidly 
increasing.  We  know  that  there  is  a  vast  amount  annu- 
ally wasted  by  present  methods.  Mr.  Davis  estimates 
the  amount  that  could  be  saved  under  national  owner- 
ship by  correcting  and  simplifying  the  management  to  be 
about  $160,000,000  a  year.  But  this  takes  into  account 
only  the  saving  of  present  expense  which  would  be 
unnecessary  under  the  national  ownership.  It  does  not 
include  the  loss  to  the  people  from  discriminations,  exor- 
bitant charges,  profits  of  construction  and  over-capital- 
izing, exactions  on  account  of  coal  and  lumber  and 
shipping,  and  other  sources  of  profit  to  the  railway  man- 
agers or  loss  and  waste  to  the  people. 

We  may  fairly  assume  that  the  amount  of  wealth  annually 
lost  to  the  people,  and  which  either  goes  to  the  railway  cajj- 
italists  and  railway  men,  or  to  loss  and  wastejis  about  f500- 
000)000  and  jperhaps  much  more. 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

MH.  C.  p.  HUNTINGTON  ON  RAILWAY  CONSOLIDATION 

Mr.  C.  P.  Huntington,  President  of  the  Union  Pacific 
Railway  Company,  in  his  article  entitled  "  A  plea  for 
Railway  Consolidation,"  in  the  North  American  Review 
for  September,  1891,  has  given  such  excellent  arguments 
for  national  ownership  of  the  railways  that  I  make 
an  extended  extract  from  it.  Do  not  understand 
that  he  advocates  national  ownership,  but  his  argument 
fits  our  case  admirably.  He  says  :  (The  italics  are  the 
author's.) 

"  What  possible  remedy  is  there  for  such  a  state  of 
things  except  joint  ownership  ?  As  a  simple  business 
proposition  it  seems  to  me  unanswerable,  for,  by  its 
application,  it  can  be  readily  seen  that  much  of  the  expense 
of  maintaining  separate  organization  and  separate  offices 
loill  he  cut  off  and  a  great  multitude  of  agents  and  agencies 
'will  he  dispensed  with.  On  the  side  of  the  people  quite  as 
much  good  will  be  the  outcome.  The  complaint  of  charg- 
ing more  for  a  short  than  a  long  haul,  which  comes  from 
the  shipper  located  between  instead  of  at  the  important 
centers,  will  cease  to  be  heard,  because  the  pernicious  system 
of  giving  rebates  and  commissions,  or  whatever  they  may 
be  called,  that  cost  the  road  so  much  money  and  really  do 
their  patrons  as  a  whole,  so  much  harm,  will  no  longer  he 
practised^  the  excuse  or  necessity  therefor  no  longer 
existing. 

''  While  the  uniting  of  small  roads  has  been  productive 
of  great  benefits  to  the  owners  and  to  the  public  who  use 
them,  yet  /  am  6atisfied  that  the  best  results  will  not  be 

149 


150       C.    p.    HUNTINGTON  ON    RAILWAY    CONSOLIDATION 

reached  until  suhstantially  all  the  transportation  business  of 
this  country  is  done  by  one  company.  The  accomplishment 
of  this  would  reduce  the  cost  of  transportation  to  the  mini- 
mum ivhich  would  admit  of  the  lowest  possible  rates  to 
shippers  and  passengers^'  (That  is  correct,  but  we,  the 
people,  must  see  that  the  whole  transportation  question 
is  put  under  a  control  which  will  not  only  '^  admit  of  the 
lowest  possible  rates,  but  which  will  secure  and  insure 
tliem  to  us  and  to  our  posterity.  Author.)  "  There  would 
be  no  longer  any  necessity  of  charging  more  for  a  short 
than  a  long  haul,  except  where  water  competition  existed 
as  the  crossing  of  railroads  at  various  points  would  have 
no  further  effect  upon  the  rate  schedules. 

"  The  raising  of  rates  at  non-competing  points  is  one  of 
the  things  done  by  railroads  which  it  is  hard  to  explain 
to  the  satisfaction  of  those  who  buy  transportation  ;  but 
it  will  continue  to  be  done  as  long  as  railroads  are  con- 
trolled by  scattered  interests,  and  neither  arguments  nor 
laws  will  entirely  prevent  it.  If,  on  the  contrary,  all  the 
railroads  of  the  country  were  held  in  joint  ownership, 
they  would  need  much  less  rolling  stock  than  is  now  required, 
as  the  great  staple  crops  of  the  country  are  moved  at 
different  seasons  of  the  year,  and  cars  and  locomotives 
could  be  transferred  from  one  section  to  another  as  needed, 
thus  saving  a  large~  amount  of  capital  which  otherwise, 
for  a  considerable  portion  of  the  year,  would  be  idle. 

''  There  is  another  feature  of  this  question,  that  is  per- 
haps hardly  taken  into  account  in  the  public  mind,  because 
its  bearing  upon  it  appears,  at  first  glance,  to  be  remote  ; 
but  we  are  dealing  with  a  problem  of  the  future,  and  the 
time  is  coming  when  its  close  relation  to  it  will  be  appre- 
ciated. The  existence  of  an  undoubted  security  for 
institutions  and  for  the  great  mass  of  conservative 
investors  of  limited  means,  who  demand  above  all  other 
qualifications  a  security  that  shall  be  safe,  and  who  rely 
upon  their  investments  for  the  incomes  which  are  to  sup- 
port themselves  and  their  families,  is  soon  to  become  a 


C.    p.    HUIsTINGTON  ON    RAILWAY    CONSOLIDATION      151 

necessity  in  America.  Our  government  bonds  are  con- 
stantly being  called  in  and  cancelled,  whilst  the  surplus 
capital  of  the  country  is  continually  increasing.  Unless 
a  stable  and  safe  security  for  the  multitude  is  forthcoming, 
it  does  not  need  the  astuteness  of  a  financier  to  compre- 
hend the  possible  situation  of  the  future  when  the  investor 
who  seeks  an  assured  income  from  his  savings  will  have 
to  place  his  reliance  upon  the  wisdom  of  his  own  selection 
among  a  list  of  many  hundreds  of  railway  stocks  and 
bonds,  subject  to  all  the  serious  fluctuations  that  follow  in 
the  wake  of  selfish  ccm.peiition  and  inefficient  management. 

"  The  writer  has  never  regarded  the  existence  of  a  large 
national  debt  as  an  evil  in  a  prosperous  and  growing 
country  like  the  United  States,  whose  obligations  do  not 
affect  the  credit  of  the  government  and  are  not  significant 
of  any  financial  embarassment  ;  but  our  people  have 
decided  otherwise,  perhaps  not  unwisely  ;  nevertheless 
there  must  be  a  substitute  for  the  people  to  invest  their 
savings  in  a  security  that  shall  possess  the  confidence  of 
the  entire  public.  What  shall  it  be  ?  It  seems  to  the 
writer  that  nothing  will  be  safer  than  shares  or  bonds  of 
the  united  railroads  of  this  country,  and  few,  if  any, 
other  securities  will  be  so  easy  to  negotiate  or  raise  money 
on.  If  this  is  true,  why  should  not  a  very  large  number  of 
the  people  who  use  these  roads  invest  their  money  in 
such  an  organization,  and  thus  become,  to  a  large  extent, 
the  owners  and  controllers  of  the  railroads  that  they  use?  " 
(The  people  would  have  very  little  to  say  about  the  con- 
trol with  the  controlling  interest  in  the  hands  of  the 
present  managers,  but,  with  the  control  in  the  govern- 
ment their  voice  would  be  the  end  of  the  law.  The 
above  argument  for  the  necessity  of  a  safe  security  in 
which  the  people  may  invest  their  savings  is  an  additional 
argument  for  national  ownership,  for  no  security  is  safer 
than  United  States  bonds.     Author.) 

"  All  are  interested  in  having  the  enormous  tonnage  of 


152       C.   p.    HUNTINGTON  ON   RAILWAY   CONSOLIDATION 

food  gathered  and  distributed  at  the  lowest  possible  cost. 
It  can  not  be  done  by  little  fragmentary  companies,  for 
they  cannot  practice  the  economies  of  wealth,  as  their 
poor  road-beds,  crippled  rolling  stock,  and  lean  manage- 
ment will  testify.  What  is  wanted  is  not  more  than  two 
or  three — and  one  would  be  better — great  carrying  com- 
panies, with  their  steel  tracks  and  road-beds  as  nearly 
perfect  as  they  can  be,  with  all  their  machinery  of  the 
best  quality,  with  their  capacious  warehouses  at  inter- 
mediate points  and  their  almost  unlimited  terminal  facil- 
ities. (Note  that  about  the  big  warehouses.  The  big  com- 
bine would  do  the  entire  shipping  business  of  the  country. 
It  would  handle  by  its  own  agents  every  product  of  field, 
forest,  mill  and  mine.  Author.)  With  the  best  talent 
in  the  country  to  manage  and  control  such  an  organization 
many  millions  could  be  saved  to  those  who  use  the  railroads 
of  this  country,  and  millions  also  to  those  who  own  them 
over  what  is  now  being  received  by  the  fragmentary,  badly 
equipped  and  inefficiently  managed  roads  that,  with  but  few 
exceptions,  now  exist. 

"  To  be  sure  there  are  demagogues  who  cry  '  Monopoly  ! ' 
and  assert  that  the  great  corporations  are  about  to  over- 
ride the  liberties  of  the  people  ;  but  solicitude  fof  the 
people  is  not  the  real  reason  of  their  outcry.  It  is  because 
they  hope  to  climb  upon  the  noise  they  make  into  higher 
places,  and  into  seats  that  they  are  not  worthy  of  and 
have  not  the  ability  to  fill." 


CHAPTKR  XXIV 
THE  TELEGRAPH 

The  people  of  the  United  States  are  much  behind  those 
of  most  other  countries  in  allowing  the  great  railway 
highways  to  be  controlled  by  private  corporations,  but 
we  are  jar  behind  the  age  in  still  leaving  the  telegraph, 
which  is  properly  a  part  of  the  mail  service,  in  the  con- 
trol of  a  greedy  monopoly.  The  United  States  is  the  only 
enlightened  nation  of  any  importance  on  the  Globe  in  which 
the  telegraph  is  not  under  government  control. 

The  charge  for  telegraphic  service  in  the  United  States 
is  so  exorbitant  that  people  of  moderate  means  usually 
do  not  resort  to  its  use  except  in  cases  of  great  emergency  ; 
and  the  cost  of  press  dispatches  is  so  heavy  that  only 
leading  city  dailies  can  afford  to  pay  for  them.  The 
telegraph  service  costs  much  more  here  than  in  other 
countries,  and  we  do  not  reap  the  benefit  from  this  great 
means  of  diffusing  knowledge  throughout  the  country 
that  we  should  do.  The  telegraph  should  go  wherever 
the  mails  go,  and  the  price  of  a  telegram  should  be  so  low 
that  the  humblest  citizen  might  avail  himself  of  its 
advantages.  And  the  cost  of  press  dispatches  should  be 
brought  within  the  reach  of  the  thousands  of  smaller 
dailies  in  country  towns  which  now  can  not  afford  them. 
Indeed  the  very  existence  of  a  daily  press  often  depends 
upon  its  ability  to  obtain  press  dispatches,  and  if  these 

153 


154  STATE  OWNERSHIP  OF  THE  TELEGRAPH  IN  ENGLAND 

were  furnished  at  as  low  prices  as  they  are  in  most  other 
countries,  the  price  of  daily  papers  could  be  brought 
within  the  reach  of  thousands  who  now  cannot  afford  to 
take  them. 

The  people  of  the  United  States  should  no  longer  per- 
mit this  great  institution  for  the  transmission  of  intelli- 
gence and  the  diffusion  of  knowledge,  to  be  used  as  a 
means  for  diverting  a  stream  of  wealth  from  the  people's 
necessities  to  a  millionaire's  pocket,  or  to  fall  so  far  short 
of  being  to  the  fullest  extent  a  means  for  disseminating 
knowledge  among  the  common  people. 

The  mail  service  is  extended  to  the  remotest  points  in 
the  nation,  and  with  the  telegraph  under  government 
management,  it  would  be  extended  to  most  points  where 
mail  is  now  delivered. 

In  England  the  telegraph  has  been  owned  and  man- 
aged by  the  government  for  over  twenty  years.  The 
telegraph  service  is  a  part  of  the  mail  service.  The 
service  has  been  largely  extended,  the  cost  of  messages 
much  reduced,  and  the  number  increased  about  one 
thousand  per  cent.  Mr.  W.  H.  Preece,  F.  R.  S.,  Vice- 
President  of  the  Society  of  Arts  of  London,  read  a  paper 
before  the  Society  in  May,  1887,  entitled  "  Fifty  Years 
Progress  in  Telegraphy,"  in  which  he  speaks  of  the 
results  of  government  ownership  of  the  telegraph  lines 
in  the  United  Kingdom  as  follows  :  — 

"  One  of  the  great  objections  raised  against  the  absorp- 
tion of  the  telegraph  by  the  state  was  the  difficulty  which 
the  government  would  have  in  transmitting  news.  In 
no  country  is  there  now  such  a  complete  system  of 
telegraphy  for  news  purposes  as  there  is  in  the  United 
Kingdom.  Whenever  any  great  political  event  arises, 
such  as  the  delivery  of  a  great  speech,  all  the  important 


COST    OF   TELEGRAMS    IN    ENGLAND  155 

towns  throughout  the  kingdom  receive  simultaneously  a 
Tcrhatim  report  of  the  speech.  There  is  not  a  town  in 
the  country  where  a  daily  paper  is  printed  which  is  not 
placed  after  6  p.  M.,in  direct  communication  with  London 
and  where  there  is  not  deposited  on  every  subscriber's 
breakfast  table  a  nearly  verbatim  report  of  the  previous 
night's  debate  in  Parliament. 

"  It  is  amusing  after  this  length  of  time,  to  read  the 
arguments  that  were  adduced  against  the  absorption  of  the 
telegraphs  by  the  state.  Every  reason  has  been  proved 
wrong,  every  prophecy  has  remained  unfulfilled.  I  can 
say  this  with  a  good  grace  for  I  was  one  of  the  prophets. 

"The  advantages  of  a  state  controlled  telegraph  system 
have  been  amply  shown.  There  has  been  established  a 
cheaper,  more  widely  extended,  and  more  expeditious 
system  of  telegraphy  ;  the  wires  have  been  erected  in 
districts  that  private  companies  could  not  reach  ;  the  cost 
of  telegrams  has  been  reduced,  not  only  in  their  trans- 
mission but  in  their  delivery  ;  the  number  of  offices 
opened  has  been  trebled  ;  a  provincial  and  an  evening 
press  have  been  virtually  created." 

The  charge  for  the  transmission  of  a  telegram  between 
any  two  points  in  the  United  Kingdom  is  twelve  cents 
for  the  first  twelve  words  and  one  cent  for  each  additional 
word,  including  the  address  and  signature,  and  the  aver- 
age charge  for  press  messages  is  about  five  cents  for  each 
one  hundred  words.  Any  one  familiar  with  the  charges 
for  messages  and  press  dispatches  in  this  country  will 
note  the  wide  difference  in  cost  between  the  two  countries. 

I  have  quoted  from  the  able  article  of  Mr.  Shelby  M. 
CuUom  in  the  Forum  for  February,  1888,  entitled  "  The 
Goverment  and  the  Telegraph,"  as  authority  for  some  of 
the  statements  given  in  regard  to  the  success  of  national 
owned  telegraphs  in  the  United  Kingdom,  including  the 
extract  from  the  address  of  Mr.  Preece. 


CHAPTER  XXV 

OBJECTIONS  TO  NATIONAL  OWNERSHIP  OF  RATL- 
WA  Y  AND  TELEGRAPH  LINES  CONSIDERED 

1.  Thai  it  would  give  wide  room  for  political  power  and. 
for  corruption  and  peculation.  This  is  the  most  common 
objection.  It  has  already  been  answered  in  the  article  on 
civil  service  reform. 

We  have  no  such  difficulty  with  the  naval  or  military 
service,  the  treasury,  mint,  or  life  saving  service,  very 
little  in  the  mail  service,  and  we  have  very  little  any 
where  except  as  the  legitimate  and  inevitable  result  of 
the  abominable  spoils  system.  On  the  other  hand  the 
present  unscrupulous  railroad  management  is  one  of  the 
most  corrupting  influences  on  our  modern  politics,  which, 
if  removed,  would  carry  with  it  one  of  the  chief  sources 
of  corruption. 

The  short  answer  to  this  objection  and  to  those  which 
grow  out  of  it,  is  that  the  men  who  inaugurate  national 
ownership  of  railroads  in  this  country  should  at  the  same 
time  and  with  the  same  spirit  put  a  final  end  to  the  dis- 
graceful spoils  system  in  the  management  of  our  national 
affairs,  and  should  see  to  it  that  in  fact,  as  well  as  in  name, 
*'  a  public  office  "  shall  be  "  a  public  trust,"  and  that  all 
our  public  servants  be  selected  for  the  one  purpose  of 
rightly  serving  the  people. 

2.  That  it  would  create  a  heavy  and  burdensome  debt,  and 
that  the  people  would  have  to  be  taxed  to  pay  it.     This  is  an 

156 


RAILWAY  DEBT — COST    OF   THE    WAR  157 

objection  and  the  only  real  one.  But  it  is  not  by  any 
means  as  serious  as  it  at  first  appears.  It  is  not  an 
obstacle,  and  not  a  very  serious  difficulty. 

It  would  not  be  necessary  for  the  nation  to  acquire 
all  of  the  roads  at  once,  ^or  to  acquire  any  which 
are  not  needed  for  the  public  service.  The  present 
bond  and  shareholders  would  readily  take  govern- 
ment bonds  in  lieu  of  their  present  holdings.  United 
States  bonds  are  better  securities  than  railway  bonds  or 
shares.  In  buying,  the  nation  should  pay  for  actual 
values  only — should  buy  railways  and  not  water.  There 
is  no  reason  why  the  people  should  pay  any  more  than 
actual  values,  what  it  would  cost  to  duplicate  the  property, 
less  wear  and  tear.  The  people  would  owe  the  railway 
companies  nothing  for  "good  will"  or  established  busi- 
ness. Franchises  and  privileges  granted  would  cover  ail 
that. 

The  civil  war,  including  the  pension  debt,  cost  the 
nation  a  sum  untold — probably  over  $10,000,000,000. 
We  are  now  paying  about  $140,000,000  annually  for  pen- 
sions, and  the  pension  debt,  under  present  laws,  is  now 
something  like  $3,000,000,000.  Yet  the  bulk  of  this 
immense  war  debt  has  been  actually  paid  by  the 
people. 

The  railroads  would  cost  the  nation  to  buy  or  condemn 
about  $5,000,000,000,  or  possibly  $6,000,000,000.  But 
they  need  not  and  would  not  cost  a  single  citizen  a  single 
dollar,  because  the  railroads  would  he  a  source jof  profit  and 
not  of  loss.     They  would  pay  for  themselves. 

Our  war  debt  represented  a  loss.  There  was  nothing 
to  show  as  an  offset  (except  a  united  country.)  It  had 
to  be  paid  by    the    toil  of  the  people.     But  the   debt 


158     WAR  DEBT  AND  RAILWAY  DEBT  COMPARED 

incurred  by  the  nation  in  buying  the  railways  will 
represent  an  investment,  and  a  'paying  investment.  The 
bonds  issued  in  the  purchase  of  the  roads  need  not, 
necessarily,  be  paid  by  the  people.  The  roads  will  stand 
as  an  offset  to  the  bonds,  and  will  always  be  worth  what  they 
cost.  The  productive  value  of  the  roads  will  be  constantly 
increasing  as  population  and  wealth  increase,  and  the  oper- 
ating expenses  will  proportionately  decrease,  as  road 
beds,  rolling  stock,  motive  power  and  appliances  are 
improved. 

It  would  be  a  paying  investment  in  a  triple  sense,  first 
in  the  increased  comfort,  security  and  satisfaction,  and 
decreased  cost  to  the  people  ;  second  by  paying  all  cost 
of  operating  expenses  and  fixed  charges,  including  inter- 
est on  the  bonds  and  a  moderate  sinking  fund  for  the 
payment  of  the  bonds  if  thought  best  ;  and  third  (and 
on  this  point  I  shall  have  more  to  say  in  another  place) 
should  be  in  a  measure  a  source  of  revenue  to  the  govern- 
ment, for  how  could  we  more  easily  secure  a  revenue  or 
with  less  burden  to  ourselves? 

A  debt  which  represents  a  paying  investment  in  pro 
ductive  property,  especially  where  it  is  a  source  of 
revenue  besides  paying  for  care  of  the  property,  for  cost 
of  doing  the  business  and  interest  on  the  investment, 
and  where  ample  time  is  allowed  for  final  payment, 
is  not  a  burden  either  to  an  individual  or  a  nation. 

Besides,  the  people,  not  bankers  and  capitalists  only, 
but  those  who  have  smaller  savings  and  need  a  safe 
investment — need  a  security  that  can  be  relied  on,  and 
the  nation  should  increase  rather  than  decrease  its  bonded 
debt,  provided  the  debt  is  represented  by  its  value  in 
productive  property. 


INDIVIDUALISM  159 

If  we  grant  the  force  of  this  objection,  we  would 
still  insist  that  the  burden  of  such  a  debt  would  be 
small  compared  with  the  burden  of  the  present  railway 
system. 

3.  That  it  would  be  another  step  toward  a  centralized, 
paternal  and  tyrannical  government. 

This  objection  corresponds  to  a  theory  of  govern- 
ment which  has  been  expounded  if  not  originated  by  a 
school  of  political  economists  of  the  Herbert  Spencer 
type.  Their  contention  is,  that  the  government  should 
protect  each  citizen  in  his  or  her  equal  rights  against  any 
encroachments  from  other  citizens,  and  that  in  properly 
doing  this  the  whole  duty  and  prerogative  of  the  govern- 
ment ends  so  far  as  individuals  are  concerned  ;  that  when 
the  government  undertakes  to  establish  and  maintain 
schools,  alms-houses  and  asylums  ;  a  life-saving  service, 
a  weather  signal  service,  a  health  service  ;  to  build  roads, 
bridges,  canals,  breakwaters,  lighthouses,  dykes,  water 
works  ;  to  carry  mails  and  establish  banks  of  exchange, 
it  goes  beyond  its  legitimate  powers,  and  is  paternal, 
dictatorial  and  tyrannical. 

A  plain  statement  of  this  theory  and  what  it  would 
lead  to  is  its  sufficient  refutation  in  this  day  and  age. 
And  yet  we  have  able  and  scholarly  men  who  advocate 
such  a  theory.  It  is  individualism  run  mad.  It  would 
lead  to  almost  no  government  at  all.  It  means  to  turn 
back  the  wheels  of  progress  for  a  thousand  years  and 
leave  us  in  a  state  of  barbarism. 

4.  That  it  is  in  the  line  of  socialism  and  nationalism, 
and  is  wild,  impractical  and  visionary. 

It  would  seem  that  the  "  paternal  "  and  the  "  socialistic  " 
objections   were   contradictory  and   would  answer  each 


160  SOCIALISM — WISE     AND    UNWISE 

other.  Those  who  object  to  what  they  term  socialism  in 
managing  state  affairs  appear  to  be  satisfied  with  what 
is  already  being  done  in  that  direction.  The  things  that 
we  have  undertaken  to  do  as  a  whole  people  by  the  gov- 
ernment have  proven  beneficial.  National  co-operation 
in  managing  some  of  our  business  affairs  has  been  to 
our  advantage.  The  state  makes  a  success  of  the  schools, 
the  nation,  of  the  mail  service,  and  so  on.  But,  if  we  do 
this  it  would  be  socialism,  and  if  we  do  that  it  would  be 
nationalism,  and  those  would  be  very  bad  things  to 
introduce  1  Such  alarms  have  been  sounded  without 
showing  wherein  the  danger  lies,  without  pointing  out 
what  might  or  might  not  properly  be  done  by  the  nation, 
or  what  would  and  what  would  not  be  conservative 
business  methods. 

We  must  differentiate.  We  must  show  what  we  should 
do,  and  what  we  should  not  do  as  a  nation.  We  need  to 
draw  the  line  between  the  legitimate  powers  and  prerog- 
atives of  government  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  unwise, 
and  unsafe  socialistic  tendencies  and  practices  on  the 
other.  And  we  need  to  do  this,  not  only  in  view  of  what 
we  may  do,  but  of  what  we  are  already  doing.  For  we 
have  now  in  some  instances  gone  beyond  the  bounds  of 
conservative  business  methods,  have  superseded  any 
legitimate  powers  of  government,  and  have  yielded  to  a 
tendency  toward  unwise  socialism. 


CHAPTER  XXVI 

THE  TRUE  PROVINCE    OF    GOVERNMENT,   DUTY  OF 

THE  STATE,  CONSERVATIVE  METHODS  AND  UNSAFE 

TENDENCIES. 

The  'powers  and  duties  of  government  are :  To  protect 
and  care  for  the  citizen  in  life,  liberty,  property  and 
happiness  ;  to  protect  him  from  thefts,  slander,  assault, 
nuisance,  annoyance,  contagion,  and  from  temptations  of 
the  saloon,  lottery,  gaming  table  and  other  snares;  to 
establish  schools,  asylums,  hospitals,  reformatories,  pest- 
houses,  quarantines  ;  to  maintain  highways,  harbors, 
mail  service,  to  provide  a  currency,  and  to  carry  on  any 
other  public  business  or  enterprise  which  will  promote 
the  best  interests  of  the  people  and  strengthen  the  state, 
and  which  the  people  can  not  as  well,  as  safely,  as 
economically,  as  efficiently  do  for  themselves. 

It  is  the  duty  of  the  state  to  do  these  things,  to  the  end 
that  the  health,  the  morals,  the  intelligence,  the  safety, 
the  sobriety,  the  good  order,  the  comfort,  the  usefulness 
and  happiness  of  the  people  shall  be  conserved. 

The  state,  in  carrying  on  its  business  and  affairs,  should 
be  guided  by  the  same  principles  of  sound  policy  and 
substantial  business  methods  which  should  control  the 
individual  in  like  circumstances.  When  the  state,  in  the 
conduct  of  any  beneficent  institution,  as  the  public 
schools,  goes  beyond  the  required  object  for  which  the 
institution  was  founded,  it  exceeds  its  legitimate  province 

161 


162    UNWISE  SOCIALISTIC  FEATURES  OF  OUR  PUBLIC   SCHOOLS 

and  is  unwise.  When,  in  the  management  of  any  busi- 
ness, as  the  mail  service,  the  nation  fails  to  conduct  the 
business  on  a  strictly  business  basis,  it  passes  the  line  of 
conservative  government,  and,  to  that  extent,  is  unsafe. 
That  we  have  passed  the  line  in  some  instances  is  a  fact 
to  which  our  attention  should  be  directed,  to  the  end  that 
we  should  retrace  our  steps  where  we  have  gone  too 
far,  and  should  guard  against  such  tendencies  in  the 
future. 

The  state  maintains  public  schools  in  order  to  give  the 
young  such  training  as  will  make  them  moral,  patriotic, 
intelligent  and  useful  citizens.  Referring  to  a  city  high 
school  curriculum,  we  find  that  over  one -half  the  time  of 
the  four  years'  course  is  taken  up  with  higher  mathe- 
matics and  foreign  languages.  Without  questioning  the 
advantage  or  utility  of  such  studies  to  certain  professions, 
and  conceding  the  prerogative  of  the  state  to  fit  young 
men  and  women  for  special  vocations  in  life,  it  is  safe  to 
say  that  these  studies  are  not  necessary  or  especially  use- 
ful or  desirable  to  the  ordinary  student,  and  not  requisite 
to  fit  the  boy  for  intelligent  and  useful  citizenship  or  to 
become  a  competent  legislator,  and  that  the  state,  in  tax- 
ing all  the  people  in  order  to  teach  studies  which  can 
never  be  applied,  supersedes  its  legitimate  powers,  and  is 
in  that  line  unwise  and  socialistic. 

Studies  which  are  not  useful  in  themselves  and  only 
applicable  as  a  means  of  acquiring  knowledge,  should 
not  be  taught  except  as  a  preparation  for  other  studies. 
Nor  should  the  time  of  the  student  be  so  curtailed 
while  it  is  far  too  limited  in  which  to  acquire  a  satisfac- 
tory knowledge  of  the  many  branches  which  should  be 
taught  in  the  schools. 


UNSAFE  TENDENCY  IN  CONDUCTING  OUR  MAIL  SERVICE    168 

To  the  student  who  is  being  fitted  for  a  vocation — as 
engineering  or  pedagogy — requiring  special  mathematic 
or  linguistic  attainment,  such  branches  become  a  nec- 
essary part  of  the  special  course.  But,  in  the  general 
course  of  study,  only  branches  which  have  some  appli- 
cation in  the  course  or  in  after  life,  should  be  taught. 
(We  have  in  this,  however,  an  instance  of  moss-back 
conservatism,  which  has  led  to  extreme  socialism.) 

The  mail  service  is  now  conducted  at  a  loss  to  the 
department.  There  have  been  times  when  it  was  on  a 
paying  basis,  that  is,  not  counting  any  fixed  charges, 
such  as  interest  on  cost  of  buildings,  etc.,  owned  by  the 
government.  Every  business  enterprise  of  an  individual 
or  nation  should  stand  on  its  own  footing.  Those  who 
send  letters  and  papers  through  the  mails  should  pay  for 
the  sending.  It  is  wrong  in  principle  for  the  nation  in  a 
business  matter  to  tax  all  the  people  for  the  benefit  of  a 
part.  And  it  is  unsafe  for  the  nation  to  do  any  business 
at  a  loss.  And  yet  we  are  liable  to  hear  some  statesman  (?) 
propose  a  reduction  of  postal  rates  and  a  still  greater  loss 
to  the  nation.  With  the  nation  owning  the  railways  we 
could  readily  put  the  mail  service  on  a  paying  basis  at 
present  rates,  as  the  deficit  is  not  large.  The  charges  for 
mail  service  should  be  close  to  cost  in  order  to  encourage 
the  dissemination  of  intelligence,  but  there  should  be  no 
deficit.  Let  us  retrace  our  steps  and  hereafter  keep  on 
the  solid  road. 

It  is  proper  and  just  that  those  who  have  served  the 
nation  in  the  army  or  navy,  in  the  life  saving  or  other 
service,  and  who  have  suffered  in  health  or  usefulness 
thereby  should  be  suitably  compensated  by  the  nation 
for  their  loss.     But  it  is  not  wise  or   just  that  all  who 


164    UNWISE  AND  UNJUST  TENDENCY  IN    GRANTING    PENSIONS 

serve  the  state  in  such  capacity  should  be  made  pen- 
sioners of  the  state,  regardless  of  needs,  or  time,  or  ser- 
vice, or  loss.  I  speak  as  a  veteran  soldier  of  the  civil  war 
and  from  what  I  deem  patriotic  motives  toward  my  old 
comrades  and  to  all  the  people  alike,  in  saying  that,  in 
my  judgment,  we  have  gone  fully  far  enough  in  this  line, 
and  that  for  the  government  to  grant  a  service  pension 
to  all  old  soldiers,  simply  because  they  served  in  the 
army  or  navy  would  be  unwise  and  unjust.  It  would  be 
a  heavy  tax  and  an  unnecessary  one  upon  the  people,  and 
would  be  a  bad  precedent.  There  is  no  good  reason  why  a 
(3itizen  simply  because  he  has  served  in  the  army,  should 
become  a  pensioner  and  a  burden  upon  the  nation,  while 
he  is  well  able  to  take  care  of  himself.  All  tendencies  in 
this  direction  are  toward  a  socialism  which  is  not  wise, 
or  just,  or  prudent.  To  grant  a  life  pension  to  a  man 
who  is  ailing  because  he  served  ninety  days  in  the  home 
guards  is  not  wise.  To  grant  a  life  pension  to  all  who 
served  in  the  army,  including  those  of  such  short  term 
service,  would  be  folly.  And  yet  we  have  statesmen  (?) 
who  advocate  such  a  measure,  and  appeal  to  the  nation 
•'  to  do  justice  to  the  old  soldiers."  No  patriotic  soldier 
will  ask  of  the  nation  any  such  "justice." 

When  the  nation  owns  the  railways,  we  may  expect  to 
hear  a  clamor  from  a  class  or  party  to  give  us  "  trans- 
portation at  cost,"  and  with  a  tendency  to  make  it  less 
than  cost.  And  we  will  surely  have  demagogues  who 
will  advocate  the  lowest  possible  rates,  and  that  the  gov- 
ernment can  pay  the  deficit.  Such  a  policy  would  be  in 
a  high  degree  unbusiness-like,  and  would  tend  to  financial 
loss,  discredit  and  disaster.  A  socialism  which  demands 
something  for  nothing,  which  asks  to  betaken  in  and  cared 


SOCIALISM — WISE    AND    UNWISE  165 

for  without  money  and  without  price,  which  wants  some 
one  else  to  do  the  work  and  some  one  else  to  "  pay  the  piper, ^^ 
is  of  the  kind  that  we  should  avoid.  Labor  must  be 
paid.  Capital  must  be  paid.  When  we  as  ar  nation  em- 
ploy labor  and  capital  we  should  pay  just  the  same  as 
individuals  would  in  like  circumstances,  and  we  should 
require  every  member  of  the  company,  who  is  able,  to 
pay  his  part. 

The  people  of  Australia  made  the  mistake  of  making 
railway  rates  so  low  that  the  roads  were  operated  at  a  loss. 
Of  course  the  people  got  a  large  benefit  from  the  low 
rates.  They  started  out  with  the  idea  of  getting  "  trans- 
portation at  cost,"  and  as  a  result  got  it  at  less  than 
cost. 

The  receipts  and  expenditures  of  any  business,  change 
with  the  times  and  seasons.  The  only  safe  way  to  dc 
any  business,  is  to  do  it  on  a  margin  which  will  cover  all 
possible  expense  and  loss.  Hundreds  of  grange  and 
co-operative  stores  in  this  country  went  to  the  wall, 
because  the  people  undertook  to  get  their  goods  at  cost, 
that  is  without  making  a  profit,  and  as  a  result,  though 
for  a  while  they  got  their  goods  at  less  than  cost,  the 
prices  not  covering  the  expense  of  handling,  the  stores 
necessarily  became  bankrupt. 

The  people  of  Australia  saw  their  mistake  and  have 
sturdily  set  themselves  to  rectify  it.  They  have  lost 
nothing  so  far,  but  they  started  in  a  way  to  lose  every- 
thing, and  they  do  not  propose  to  follow  that  road  any 
longer.     Let  us  profit  by  their  example. 

In  the  principle  of  government  ownership  and  manage- 
ment of  our  railway  and  other  great  monopolies,  lies  the 
remedy  for  much  of  the  privation  among   our   laboring 


166 

masses.  This  principle  should  be  the  ''cloud  by  day  and 
the  fire  by  night"  to  lead  us  out  of  the  wilderness  of 
monopoly  with  which  we  are  environed.  It  is  the  prin- 
ciple that  the  people  themselves,  by  their  chosen  servants, 
should  carry  on  their  own  business,  and  do  it  for  their  own 
profit  and  benefit,  and  that  the  conduct  and  management 
of  their  most  important  and  most  profitable  business 
affairs  should  not  be  any  longer /an?ied  out — placed  in  the 
hands  of  private  corporations,  to  use  these  opportunities 
for  their  own  enrichment  and  aggrandizement. 

And  the  reasons  and  principles  which  will  lead  us  to 
undertake  the  conduct  of  all  our  means  of  transportation 
and  communication  will  also  ultimately  lead  us  to  under- 
take government  management  of  many  of  our  financial, 
industrial  and  commercial  monopolies,  as  well. 


CHAPTER  XXVII 

TNE  CURRENCY.    EVILS  OF  OUR  FINANCIAL 

SYSTEM.     COIN  AND  PAPER  MONEY,     THE 

NATIONAL  BANKS. 

The  question  of  money  does  not  demand  a  leading 
place  in  a  consideration  of  causes  and  remedies  of  pov- 
erty. It  does  not  merit  the  almost  exclusive  attention 
that  is  given  it  as  a  political  question  by  some  of  the 
American  people.  The  financial  question  is  a  somewhat 
complicated  one,  and  no  other  political  question,  except 
that  of  tariff,  is  so  beclouded  in  the  minds  of  many  of 


FINANCIAL  REFORMS  DEMANDED  167 

our  people.  In  relation  to  no  other  national  question  are 
so  many  fallacious  ideas  advanced,  or  so  many  mischiev- 
ous measures  advocated.  There  are  several  plans  for 
"financial  relief"  proposed,  which,  if  adopted,  would 
inevitably  tend  to  increase  rather  than  diminish  the 
burdens  of  the  laboring  classes. 

It  is  true  that  there  are  serious  evils  and  defects  in  our 
present  financial  system,  and  that  several  reforms  are 
justly  demanded.  There  have  been  financial  measures 
adopted  by  our  government  which  wereunjust^-favoring 
the  monied  class  and  burdensome  to  the  masses  of  the 
people,  and  there  are  several  reforms  which  should  be 
inaugurated  which  would  be  a  relief  and  a  benefit  to  the 
people.  While  the  evils  of  our  present  financial  system 
have  been  by  some  overrated,  still  there  is  much  room  for 
reform. 

The  government  should  furnish  and  maintain  a  suffi- 
cient and  stable  currency,  and  this  should  be  done  without 
the  intervention  of  private  corporations  ;  it  should  furnish 
to  the  people  a  safe  depository  for  their  money,  and  should 
pay  interest  upon  their  deposits  ;  it  should  loan  money 
to  the  people  in  such  manner  as  the  banks  now  do,  and 
should  reduce  interest  charges.  The  nation  should  be 
the  chief  banker  ;  should  control  and  regulate  the  money 
supply  ;  should  retain  for  the  whole  people  the  profits 
accruing  from  the  money  business.  The  government 
should  no  longer  give  special  privileges  and  immu- 
nities to  a  banking  class  ;  should  no  longer  sub- 
sidize national  banks  ;  should  cease  to  make  donations 
to  banks  by  furnishing  banking  capital  in  the  way 
of  deposits  without  security  or  interest ;  should  not 
pay  bounty  and  tribute  to  the  money  power.    And  the 


168     MONEY,  GOLD  AND  SILVER  AS  STANDARDS  OF  VALUE 

people  should  no  longer  be  obliged  to  pay  tribute  to  this 
power  and  be  subject  to  its  exactions.  The  national  banks 
should  go. 

Money  is  primarily  coin,  a  precious  metal  or  other 
highly  valuable  commodity,  stamped  by  public  authority 
for  use  as  a  standard  measure  of  values  and  a  convenient 
medium  of  exchange  and  means  of  storing  wealth.  The 
best  money  is  that  which  may  be  used  in  any  civilized 
country  with  little  or  no  discount  from  its  face  value.  In 
all  ages,  gold  and  silver  have  been  the  precious  metals 
most  used  as  money  by  civilized  nations>  Nickel,  copper, 
brass,  spelter,  ivory,  beads,  etc.,  are  also  used  as  money, 
secondary  to  gold  and  silver  or  by  uncivilized  people. 

Gold  is  the  standard  of  value  in  nearly  all  civilized 
nations,  because  it  fluctuates  in  value  less  than  other 
metals  and  is  more  convenient  for  use  in  all  large  trans- 
actions. Gold  has  had  a  recognized  intrinsic  value  in  all 
ages  and  among  all  civilized  peoples,  more  fixed,  more 
unchangeable  than  that  of  any  other  material  thing,  and 
its  value  as  a  standard  measure  of  values  has  never  been 
overrated.  Silver  had,  during  long  periods  of  time,  a 
value  nearly  as  fixed  as  that  of  gold,  but  during  the  last 
four  decades  it  has  been  depreciating  in  value,  and  can  no 
longer  be  counted  upon  as  a  standard  of  money  equal 
to  gold.  This  depreciation  has  been  brought  about, 
not  by  edicts  or  decrees  of  nations,  but  by  the  fact  of  a 
production  of  silver  beyond  the  demand  for  it,  either  for 
money  or  art  uses,  to  an  extent  which  could  but  act  to 
reduce  its  relative  value. 

It  has  not  been  found  practicable  to  use  two  metals  as 
standards  of  value.  Any  fluctuation  in  the  value  of 
either  metal  disturbs  the  relative  value,  and  parity  can- 


PAPER  MONEY.   VALUE  OF  "  PROMISES  TO  PAY  "   169 

not  be  maintained.  Attempts  by  the  United  States  or 
by  any  other  nation  to  use  both  gold  and  silver  as  stand- 
ard money  have  always  resulted  in  one  or  other  being 
withdrawn  from  circulation,  the  most  valuable  being 
hoarded  or  sold.  Silver  is  therefore  used  by  our  own  and  by 
most  other  nations  as  a  "  subsidiary  "  or  tributary  coin  to 
gold,  and  made  a  legal  tender  for  a  small  fixed  sum.  Gold 
is  almost  universally  used  for  coin  payments  of  five 
dollars  and  over,  and  silver,  nickel  and  copper  for 
smaller  amounts. 

Secondarily,  we  have  paper  money,  any  ''  promise  to 
pay "  which  may  be  used  instead  of  coin,  its  value 
depending  wholly  upon  the  ability  and  readiness  to  pay 
of  the  power  which  issues  it,  and  upon  the  confidence 
which  people  have  in  that  ability  and  integrity.  A  plain 
bank  check  is  "  good  as  gold  "  with  those  who  have  con- 
fidence in  the  ability  and  integrity  of  the  maker,  other- 
wise it  must  be  "  certified  "  by  an  official  of  the  bank  on 
which  it  is  drawn  in  order  to  be  readily  received.  United 
States  notes  and  national  bank  notes  are  "  as  good  as  the 
gold  "  while  the  people  have  confidence  in  the  ability  and 
integrity  of  the  nation  to  pay  them  in  gold.  But  we  have 
had  such  unhappy  and  disastrous  experiences  with 
depreciated  bank  notes  and  with  depreciated  United  States 
notes  as  well — with  the  promises  and  obligations  of 
individuals  and  of  states  and  nations — that  we  know 
that  promises  to  pay  are  not  quite  as  good  as  the  pay.  It 
is  something  like  the  case  of  the  baker  we  read  of  who 
held  out  the  loaf  through  his  window  with  one  hand 
while  he  took  the  coin  in  the  other.  The  promise  may 
be  good  in  a  week  or  a  month  ;  it  may  be  good  in  ten 
years  or  in  twenty  years,  and  it  may  not  be. 


170         GOVERNMENT  SUBSIDIES  TO  THE  MONIED  CLASS 

The  future  is  unknown.  No  man  or  company  of  men 
can  foresee  the  results  of  the  many  forces  acting  to-day, 
and  of  the  many  new  forces  which  may  be  in  the  coming 
years.  We  should  therefore  make  only  such  promises  as 
we  may  reasonably  hope  to  fulfill. 

United  States  notes  are  now  practically  as  good  as  gold 
and  will  probably  continue  to  be  so.  But  their  value 
depends  upon  the  wisdom  of  the  nation  in  conducting  its 
financial  affairs.  While  wise  counsels  obtain,  our  paper 
will  retain  its  present  value,  but  should  unwise  and  unsafe 
counsels  prevail,  our  paper  money  would  certainly  become 
depreciated.  With  confidence  in  the  good  business  sense 
of  a  large  majority  of  the  American  people,  we  do  not 
apprehend  any  serious  danger  of  the  latter  result. 

The  evils  of  our  National  hank  system.  It  is  an  error 
and  a  wrong  that  we  subsidize  the  national  banks. 
While  this  is  true,  it  is  also  true  that  our  government 
now  offers  less  inducement  than  formerly  for  the  organiza- 
tion of  national  banks.  The  crying  evil  of  this  system 
as  a  means  of  subsidizing  the  monied  class  is  largely  a 
thing  of  the  past.  When  a  national  bank  could  buy  six 
per  cent  bonds,  draw  the  interest  on  them,  and  also  receive 
from  the  government  ninety  per  cent  of  bank  notes  on 
the  amount  of  bonds  purchased,  and  loan  this  amount  at 
ten  to  fifteen  per  cent,  at  the  same  time  securing  the  name, 
the  prestige  and  the  supervision  of  the  national  govern- 
ment for  the  one  per  cent,  tax  paid,  that  was  a  crying 
evil  and  an  unwarranted  favor  and  bounty  given  to  the 
banking  class.  But  now,  any  new  national  banks,  or 
those  old  ones  wishing  to  extend  their  issue  after  the 
bonds  they  now  hold  are  called  in,  must  buy  government 
two  per  cent  bonds,  so  that  there  is  but  small  profit  to  a 


THE    CHIEF    DEFECT    IN    OUR    FINANCIAL    SYSTEM       171 

bank  in  an  issue  of  currency  on  those  terms.  Still  it  is 
an  evil  and  should  be  abated. 

The  capital  of  banks  consists  of  their  capital  stock, 
accrued  profits,  issue  of  notes,  and  money  of  depositors, 
and  their  income  is  derived  mostly  from  loans.  Usually 
the  larger  part  of  their^capital  is  the  money  of  depositors, 
upon  which,  as  a  rule,  they  pay  no  interest,  and  from 
which  they  make  most  of  their  profits.  The  people  fur- 
nish this  money  to  the  banks  without  remuneration, 
and  pay  the  banks  large  sums  in  the  aggregate  for 
interest  charges  upon  loans.  The  banks  obtain  this  money 
without  cost  and  without  giving  security,  and  they  loan 
it  at  high  rates  of  interest  and  upon  good  security,  and 
herein  lies  the  principal  cost  and  loss  to  the  people  from  our 
present  banking  system,  national  and  state. 

The  question  of  banking  which  is  of  first  importance 
to  the  American  people,  is  that  the  people  should  themselves 
have  the  profits  accruing  to  the  banking  business;  the  nation 
should  be  the  banker  and  the  whole  people  should  receive 
the  benefit.  This  is  the  chief  and  almost  the  only  question 
which  should  demand  our  attention  in  regard  to  this  ques- 
tion of  financial  reform.  The  people,  by  their  national 
representatives,  should  do  their  own  banking  business 
and  receive  all  the  benefits  to  be  derived  from  it,  instead 
of  "  farming  it  out "  to  money  corporations  ;  subsidizing 
them,  and  allowing  them  to  lay  a  heavy  burden  of  tax 
upon  us  by  exorbitant  interest  charges.  Let  us  in  this 
matter  do  our  own  business,  and  not  put  ourselves  in  a 
position  to  be  subject  to  the  exaction  of  a  set  of  men 
whom  we  allow  to  control  our  financial  interests  and  to 
a  considerable  extent  our  commercial  interests,  as  well. 
Let  us  in  this  matter  "  keep  shop  "  for  ourselves, 

''   \  B  R  A  A?  p%. 

OF  THK 

UNIVERSITY 


172    GOVERNMENT  MONEY.   GOVERNMENT  BANKS 

The  demand  that  the  government  shall  issue  money 
to  the  people  without  the  intervention  of  banks,  and 
without  profit  to  any  corporation,  is  a  just  demand.  No 
more  national  banks  should  be  chartered,  no  more  bank 
issues  extended,  and  as  fast  as  the  bank  notes  are  called 
in  and  cancelled,  treasury  notes  should  be  issued  to  take 
their  place.  The  government  now  has  large  sums  of  money 
deposited  with  certain  national  banks  without  security 
and  without  interest.     This  practice  should  cease. 


CHAPTER  XXVIII 

POSTAL  SA  VINGS  BANKS.    IMPRO  VEMENTS  IN 
POSTAL  EXCHANGE 

The  principal  reform  needed  in  our  financial  system  is 
the  inauguration  of  banks  of  deposit  in  connection  with 
the  postoffice  department  or  otherwise,  in  order  that  the 
government  may  deal  directly  with  the  people  in  money 
matters.  The  postal  savings  bank  would  afford  the 
credit  of  the  nation  as  security  for  the  safety  of  deposits, 
and  would  furnish  bank  facilities  in  localities  where  a 
private  bank  would  not  be  supported.  Our  present  banks, 
national  and  state,  do  not  always  furnish  a  safe  depository. 
We  need  national  banks  which  furnish  to  depositors  the 
security  of  the  nation,  and  the  postal  savings  banks 
would  have  this  advantage  over  all  others. 

The  money  so  deposited  should  be  loaned  to  the  people 


CONSERVATIVE  GOVERNMENT    BANKING  173 

on  the  security  of  bonds,  stocks,  mortgages,  warehouse 
receipts,  standing  crops  or  other  convertible  property  as 
collateral  to  personal  security,  or  on  personal  security 
alone,  always  provided  that  the  security  he  ample — such  as 
would  be  satisfactory  with  any  other  reputable  bank. 

The  government  bank  should  do  business  in  such  a 
manner  as  not  to  become  liable  in  a  business  transaction 
of  having  to  make  any  donations  to  individuals.  For  the 
government,  in  a  benevolent  way,  to  care  for  the  sick  or 
infirm  is  laudable,'but  it  should  not  undertake  to  provide 
for  those  who  are  able  to  care  for  themselves. 

But  money  should  not  be  loaned  by  these  banks  upon 
land  security  except  upon  mortgages  used  as  a  secondary 
!?ecurity,  and  in  such  manner  as  not  to  call  for  the  sale  of 
the  land,  but  of  the  mortgage,  to  secure  payment  of  the 
loan.  Nor  should  the  money  be  loaned  upon  long  time, 
usually  not  longer  than  three  to  six  months. 

The  legitimate  province  of  banking  is  to  furnish  a  safe 
depository  for  the  savings  of  the  people,  to  pay  interest 
on  deposits,  and  to  loan  money  to  those  who  need  it  to 
assist  them  temporarily  in  carrying  on  their  business,  at 
certain  times  or  seasons  when  they  require  additional 
capital  ;  it  is  not  to  furnish  a  capital  with  which  to  do  a 
business  or  to  buy  land. 

The  government  should  probably  pay  from  two  to  four 
})er  cent  interest  to  depositors,  and  loan  the  money  at 
from  four  to  six  per  cent,  in  either  case  depending  upon 
locality,  demand,  amount  and  time.  The  rates  must 
necessarily  correspond  to  some  extent  with  those  pre- 
vailing in  the  localities.  The  government  should  not 
undertake  any  sudden  or  extreme  bull  or  bear  movement 
in  the  money  market  or  in  any  other  line  of  business. 


174  POSTAL    CARD    MONEY    ORDERS 

There  is  no  reason  why  officials  of  the  postoffice.  in 
localities  where  sufficient  business  might  be  done  to 
afford  the  employment  of  skilled  men.  should  not  carry 
on  a  legitimate  and  safe  banking  business  for  the  people. 
Such  offices  are  now  usually  kept  by  men  who  are 
thoroughly  competent  and  reliable.  Another  advantage 
of  the  national  savings  bank  system  would  be,  that 
money  which  accumulates  as  a  surplus  in  some  localities 
at  certain  seasons,  could  be  loaned  in  other  localities, 
where  for  the  time,  the  needs  of  business,  as  in  harvesting, 
or  handling  stock  or  crops,  made  a  stronger  demand  for 
money.  Thus,  money  need  not  be  lying  idle  in  one  state 
or  locality  while  much  needed  in  another. 

Improvements  in  Postal  Exchange.  Our  present  system 
of  postal  exchange  by  postoffice  order  is  unnecessarily 
complicated,  expensive  and  cumbersome,  and  is  insuffi- 
cient. It  should  be  simplified,  cheapened  and  extended. 
Small  sums  (perhaps  up  to  five  dollars)  might  be  sent 
readily  by  a  postal  card  device,  at  a  nominal  price  of  two  to 
three  cents,  the  security  of  the  remittance  depending 
upon  the  identification  of  the  payee.  Such  a  device 
would  be  a  great  convenience  and  saving  tO  those  sending 
small  sums,  as  for  paying  subscriptions  to  newspapers 
and  magazines,  purchase  of  books,  etc..  and  would  greatly 
facilitate  the  circulation  of  periodicals,  and  be  a  pro- 
nounced means  for  the  diffusion  of  inlel-igence  among 
the  people.  For  larger  sums  postal  drafts  should  be 
used. 


CHAPTER  XXIX 

MONEY MONOPOL  Y?  IS  THERE  A  GREA  T SCARCITY 
OF 31  ONE Yf    no  fVE  NEED  FIFTY DOL LARS  PER 
CAPITA?      MONEY     SUPPLY     OF     DIFFERENT 

NA TIONS.     SCARCITY  OF  MONE Y  NOT  THE  CA USE 
OF  THE  FARMER'S  DEPRESSION 

It  is  not  strange  that  there  should  be  a  prevailing  idea 
that  much  of  the  depression  among  the  industrial  classes 
is  caused  by  a  scarcity  of  money,  by  a  monopoly  of  money 
by  the  wealthy  classes,  and  by  legislation  in  the  interest  of 
bankers  and  capitalists.  Many  of  us  greatly  need  more 
money,  or  at  least  more  wealth,  and  if  we  had  plenty  of 
money  we  could  get  everything  we  need,  and  it  seems  a 
logical  conclusion  that  there  must  be  a  great  scarcity  of 
money  and  that  this  is  a  chief  cause  of  financial  depression. 
We  have  been  often  told  that  there  has  been  a  great  con- 
traction of  the  currency,  that  there  is  not  nearly  enough 
money  in  circulation  to  do  the  business  of  the  country  on 
a  cash  basis,  and  that  the  bankers  and  brokers  have  a 
monopoly  of  money,  and  try  to  keep  it  scarce  in  order  to 
get  a  good  price  for  it.  And  we  are  told  that  to  remedy 
these  evils  we  should  have  forty  or  fifty  or  one  hundred 
dollars  per  capita  in  circulation  in  order  to  facilitate  the 
transaction  of  the  business  of  the  country  and  make 
times  good  ;  that  the  volume  of  the  currency  should  be 
increased  by  the  issue  of  treasury  notes  and  by  the  "  free 
and  unlimited  coinage  of  silver,"  and  that  this  money 

175 


176  MONEV   SCARCITY    AND    CAUSES    FOR    IT 

should  be  loaned  to  the  people  on  the  security  of  land  or 
of  non-perishable  farm  products,  until  the  demand  was 
supplied  and  '''good  times"  restored. 

Is  there  a  great  scarcity  of  money?  Has  any  man  wheat 
or  cattle,  corn  or  cotton,  or  other  articles  for  which  there  is 
a  demand,  which  he  cannot  sell  for  what  they  are  worth 
in  general  markets,  considering  cost  of  transport  and 
other  charges  and  expense  under  our  present  methods 
of  business  and  which  we  can  account  for  aside  from  any 
scarcity  of  money?  Has  a  man  labor  to  sell  for  which 
there  is  a  demand,  for  which  he  may  not  receive  pay  in 
coin?  Is  there  a  locality  in  the  Union — in  Massachusetts, 
Ohio,  Iowa  or  other  state,  where  there  is  not  enough  money, 
as  a  rule,  to  do  the  legitimate  business  of  the  community? 
At  times,  in  some  localities  there  may  l)e  a  scarcity,  but, 
as  a  rule,  in  any  city  or  in  the  country  at  large  there  is 
not. 

When  there  is  a  scarcity  of  money  in  any  locality  it  is 
because  the  "  balance  of  trade  "  is  against  it,  the  people 
of  the  locality  failing  to  have  enough  commodities  for 
sale  to  pay  for  articles  needed  for  consumption. 

In  Pasadena  during  boom  times  we  had  a  large  supply 
of  town  lots  for  sale  for  which  there  was  a  strong  demand 
at  high  prices,  and  we  had  plenty  of  money,  but,  after 
the  boom,  there  being  no  demand  for  our  lots,  and  as  we 
had  neglected  our  other  industries,  we  had  few  products 
to  sell  and  money  became  scarce.  In  Denver,  Spokane, 
and  many  other  places  such  conditions  have  prevailed. 
But,  in  Southern  California  the  ranch  man  who  has  a 
good  crop  of  oranges  or  alfalfa  or  walnuts  or  other  salable 
products,  has  no  difficulty  in  exchanging  them  for  coin. 
And  the  same  is  true  of  the  Mississippi  cotton  planter, 


IS    SCARCITY   OF    MONEY    A   CAUSE    OF    POVERTY  ?      177 

the  Illinois  corn  grower,  or  any  other  successful  producer. 
An  Iowa  farmer  says  that  in  his  locality  there  is  an 
abundance  of  money  in  the  banks,  and  that  farms  and 
farm  products  sell  readily  for  cash. 

A  failure  of  crops  causes  a  scarcity  of  money  among 
the  farmers,  and  this  reacts  upon  the  towns.  But  all 
this  depends  upon  lack  of  wealth  or  production  in  a 
locality  and  not  upon  lack  of  money  in  the  country  at 
large.  Poverty  and  hard  times  depend  mainly,  not  upon 
lack  of  wealth,  or  production,  or  money  in  the  country  as  a 
whole,  hut  upon  unequal  production  and  distribution  and 
upon  waste  of  wealth. 

Wealth  is  the  product  of  labor — accumulations  from 
gathering,  producing,  building,  saving.  Money  is  supplied 
as  a  convenient  medium  in  exchanging  labor^s  products. 
It  constitutes  but  a  small  per  cent  of  the  total  of  wealth. 

Poverty  is  lack  of  wealth.  A  poor  man  is  one  who 
from  one  or  many  causes  does  not  have  his  proportion  of 
the  sum  of  labor's  products. 

It  is  a  very  superficial  view  of  the  case  to  conclude 
that  it  is  more  money  that  the  poor  man  needs.  He 
needs  the  material  things  which  go  to  make  for  his  com- 
fort and  happiness,  and  money  is  but  a  tool,  sometimes 
used,  in  transferring  these  things  from  one  to  another — 
a  means  to  an  end. 

It  is  a  more  superficial  view  to  consider  that  it  is  a  lack 
of  money  supply  in  the  country  at  large  that  has  caused 
depression  among  laboring  classes.  We  have  abund- 
ance of  wealth  in  the  country,  but  the  laborer  has  not 
received  his  part  of  his  own  products.  There  is  plenty 
for  all,  but  the  men  and  women  who  produce  the  wealth 
are  robbed  of  their  rightful  share. 


178  MONOPOLY   OF    WEALTH 

It  is  not  a  monopoly  of  money  but  rather  a  monopoly 
of  wealth — the  unequal  distribution  of  labor's  products — 
which  is  a  chief  cause  of  privation.  And  the  question  of 
money  supply  has  very  little  to  do  as  a  factor  in  produc- 
ing this  inequality.  1  do  not  undertake  to  say  whether 
there  is  or  is  not  a  sufficient  volume  of  currency  in  the 
country,  but  I  do  undertake  io  say  that  any  scarcity  of 
money  which  now  exists  in  the  country  is  not  a  consider- 
able cause  of  depression  among  laboring  classes. 

Besides,  money  is  apparently  scarce  when  there  is  a 
general  lack  of  confidence  in  the  ability  or  disposition  of 
people  to  pay.  No  matter  how  much  money  there  may 
be  in  any  locality,  or  by  whom  held — whether  by  bankers, 
farmers  or  others — if  there  is  lack  of  confidence  in  busi- 
ness conditions,  men  who  have  money  are  very  cautious, 
as  they  should  be,  about  loaning  or  investing  it.  When 
confidence  in  the  integrity  and  success  of  business  con- 
ditions is  restored,  money  again  freely  circulates. 

Do  we  need  fifty  dollars  per  capita?  It  has  been 
assumed  that  we  must  require  as  large  an  amount 
of  money  in  proportion  to  wealth  and  population  as  we 
ever  did.  This  is  not  correct.  In  early  days  a  large 
part  of  the  business  was  done  by  the  direct  use  of  money. 
Now  about  ninety-five  per  cent  of  the  business  of 
the  country  is  done  by  bank  exchanges  without  the 
use  of  money.  As  business  methods  and  facilities 
improve,  and  as  business  is  done  more  and  more  upon  a 
large  scale,  a  smaller  proportion  of  currency  is  required 
to  transact  the  business.  The  largest  volume  of  the 
country's  business — manufacturing,  mining,  real  estate, 
transportation,  the  wholesale  trade — is  done  almost 
entirely  by  bank  exchange.     We  probably  do  not  use  and 


VOLUME    OB^   CURRENCY   OF    DIFFERENT   NATIONS       179 

do  not  need  the  amount  of  money  per  capita  that  we  did 
forty  years  ago. 

The  most  sagacious  and  enterprising  business  men  use 
the  smallest  proportion  of  money  in  transacting  business. 
Intelligent  and  prudent  people  keep  but  little  money 
about  their  persons  or  homes.  Their  ready  money, 
except  what  is  barely  sufficient  for  daily  use,  is 
deposited  in  bank,  and  bills  are  usually  paid  by  check. 
As  a  rule,  only  those  who  are  either  stupid,  ignorant, 
miserly,  or  who  love  display,  do  otherwise. 

A  burglar  recently  entered  the  residence  of  a  Pasadena 
capitalist  and  secured  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  dollars 
from  the  coachman's  room.  The  coachman  should  have 
had  better  sense  than  to  keep  such  an  amount  of  money 
in  his  room.  The  man  who  habitually  carries  in  his 
pocket  more  money  than  he  needs  for  use — an  amount  of 
fifty  dollars,  for  instance — is  not  wise  ;  in  a  business 
sense  he  is  a  fool. 

Mechanics  and  others  employed  are  usually  paid  by 
check  at  the  end  of  the  week  or  month,  and  do  not  usu- 
ally carry  much  money.  People  who  live  farthest  from 
a  bank  must  needs  keep  on  hand  more  money  for  use 
than  those  who  have  better  bank  facilities.  The  bank  is 
a  convenience  and  a  money  saver,  and  postal  savings 
banks  would  be  especially  convenient  in  sparsely  settled 
communities. 

The  amount  of  money,  coin  and  paper,  in  the  United 
States,  is  stated  to  be  about  twenty-five  dollars  per  capita. 
We  have  those  who  advocate  increasing  the  amount  to 
forty  or  fifty  or  even  one  hundred  dollars  per  capita. 
Most  nations  have  a  smaller  amount  of  money  per  hecA 
than  ours  ;  the   United  Kingdom  about  twenty  dollars. 


180  PEOPORTION    OF    MONEY,  ETC. 

Germany,  fourteen  dollars  ;  Sweden  and  Norway,  five 
dollars.  A  very  few  have  more  ;  France,  forty-two  dollars; 
Netherlands,  twenty-six  dollars. 

The  proportion  of  money  to  population  of  a  nation 
does  not  show  the  proportion  of  wealth  or  the  condition 
of  its  people.  It  but  shows  the  relative  amount  of  money 
they  are  accustomed  to  use  in  the  transaction  of  business. 
The  wealth  of  a  man  can  no  more  be  told  by  the  amount 
of  coin  in  his  pocket  than  by  the  style  of  his  clothes  ; 
and  the  same  is  true  of  a  nation.  J.  J.  Astor  perhaps 
carries  less  money  in  his  pocket  than  does  his  coachman. 
Some  men  like  to  carry  as  much  of  their  wealth  as  pos- 
sible in  their  pockets  or  on  their  backs,  but  sensible 
people  usually  carry  as  little  as  will  answer  their  needs. 
The  people  of  France,  with  a  volume  of  currency  of  forty- 
two  dollars  per  capita,  are  not  more  prosperous  financially 
than  are  the  people  of  England  with  only  twenty  dollars 
per  capita. 

It  is  a  mistake  to  attribute  the  depression  among  agri- 
cultural and  other  laboring  classes  in  some  localities  to  a 
scarcity  of  money  in  the  country  at  large.  If  that  were 
a  cause,  it  would  affect  manufacturing,  mercantile  and 
mining  classes  as  well,  but  these  have  been  usually 
prosperous  and  have  accumulated  wealth.  As  a  whole 
the  country  has  increased  greatly  in  wealth,  while,  in 
many  localities,  farm  lands  have  decreased  in  value  in 
the  past  twenty-five  years.  We  can  account  for  the 
depression  among  agricultural  classes  while  others  have 
prospered,  and  scarcity  of  currency  is  not  among  the 
causes.  Besides,  the  purchasing  power  of  a  dollar  in 
buying  the  necessaries  of  life,  is  much  greater  than  it 
was  thirty  years  ago,  and,  consequently,  much  less  cur- 


DEMAND    REGULATES    SUPPLY  181 

rency  is  required  to  handle  the  same  amount  of  goods. 

Money  should  be  issued  by  the  national  government  in 
such  quantity  as  may  be  required  for  the  legitimate 
demands  of  business.  We  need  not  trouble  ourselves 
with  discussion  of  how  much  money  we  now  have,  in 
circulation  or  otherwise,  or  with  the  question  of  how 
much  money  we  require  per  capita  for  the  transaction  of 
our  business.  No  one  knows  or  can  know  how  much  is 
needed  per  capita.  That  matter  will  take  care  of  itself 
when  we  have  accomplished  the  important  feature  of 
financial  reform.  Then  the  unfailing  law  of  supply  and 
demand  will  regulate  that. 

When  the  nation  is  the  chief  banker,  with  its  branches 
throughout  the  country,  the  amount  of  currency  will  be 
easily  adjusted  by  the  legitimate  requirements  of  business 
and  trade. 


CHAPTER  XXX 

LOANS  UPON  LANDS  AND  UPON  FARM  PRODUCTS. 
FREE  COINAGE  OF  SILVER. 

Let  us  see  how  it  is  proposed  to  increase  the  volume  of 
currency,  and  how  the  money  is  to  be  placed  in  the 
hands  of  the  people  who  need  it.  It  is  proposed  to  issue 
paper  money  and  loan  it  upon  the  security  of  land  and 
of  non-perishable  farm  products. 

Have  we  found  that  going  in  debt  is  a  good  way  to 
secure  financial  betterment  ?     Is  borrowing  money,  with 


182    PUTTING  A  MORTGAGE  ON  THE  FARM  NOT  THE  WAY    OUT 

or  without  security,  the  proper  remedy  to  commend  to 
poor  people  as  a  cure  for  poverty?  Shall  we  advise  them 
to  put  a  mortgage  on  the  farm?  No  !  Borrowing  money 
is  one  of  the  chief  causes  of  the  farmer's  financial 
troubles,  and  borrowing  more  money  is  not  his  way  out. 
Buying  land  on  credit,  and  tools  and  machinery  on 
credit,  and  horses,  buggies,  good  clothes,  groceries,  pianos 
on  credit,  has  been  the  bane  of  the  farmer  and  of  many 
other  people.  (Please  read  articles  on  "Speculation  in 
Land,"  and  "  The  Credit  System.")  And  buying  on  credit, 
buying  what  one  cannot  pay  for,  putting  a  mortgage  on 
the  farm,  are  7iot  the  remedies  for  our  poverty.  Buying 
on  credit  and  borrowing  money  produce  an  inflation  of 
supposed  wealth  and  values  to  the  extent  of  the  propor- 
tion of  debt,  and  this  leads  us  to  think  we  are  rich  while 
we  are  poor.  And  we  go  on  buying,  using,  consuming, 
expanding,  wading  more  and  more  into  the  unknown 
waters  of  debt,  speculation  and  expansion,  until  we  lose 
our  financial  footing  and  see  our  goods  and  effects  carried 
beyond  our  reach  and  we  left  without  property  and  often 
without  friends.  No,  keep  on  the  solid  ground  of  having 
something  you  can  call  your  own,  and  owe  no  man  or 
company  of  men  for  it. 

Our  past  experience  has  also  shown  us  that  our  finan- 
cial disasters  as  a  people  have  not  been  caused  by  con- 
traction more  than  by  expansion  of  the  volume  of 
currency.  When  it  is  easy  for  men  to  get  money  they 
spend  it  freely,  and  this  is  the  case  with  communities  as 
well  as  with  individuals.  Expansion  of  the  volume  of 
currency,  in  the  judgment  of  some  of  our  best  statesmen, 
has,  at  several  periods  of  our  history,  led  to  speculation, 
to  increased  business  hazards  and  to  financial  ruin. 


SILVER  COIN  IN  CIRCULATION.       A  SEVENTY  CENT  DOLLAR    183 

Another  proposed  plan  for  expanding  the  currency  is 
by  "/ree  and  unlimited  coinage  of  silver, ^^  Silver  is  a  very 
useful  metal  for  coins  of  the  denominations  for  which  it 
is  used.  We  need  silver  dollars,  and  should  have  as  many 
as  are  needed  for  use.  We  now  have  over  $300,000,000 
silver  dollars.  Of  these  we  use  about  $60,000,000.  If  we  can 
use  only  one-fifth  of  the  silver  dollars  we  now  have,  why 
coin  more  ?  We  are  told,  in  order  to  use  them  as  a  basis 
for  notes  or  certificates.  If  for  that  purpose  we  would  do 
better  to  use  it  as  bullion  than  as  coin. 

Silver  is  properly  used  as  a  subsidiary  coin,  second  to 
gold.  No  argument,  "no  theory,  no  effort  by  the  govern- 
ment or  the  people  can  make  it  otherwise.  We  use  silver 
for  money  in  amounts  less  than  five  dollars  simply 
because  the  gold  coin  of  less  than  five  dollars  is  too  small 
for  use,  just  as  we  use  nickel  for  a  five-cent  piece  because 
the  silver  half  dime  is  too  small  for  use.  The  vast 
majority  of  people  prefer  to  carry  as  little  weight  of  coin 
as  will  answer  their  needs.  Usually  two  or  three  dollars  in 
silver  is  as  much  as  any  one  takes  from  choice,  and  a  man 
who  would  prefer  to  carry  ten  dollars  in  silver  in  his 
pocket  unless  it  was  needed  directly  for  change  would  be 
a  phenomenon.  We  do  not  need  another  silver  dollar, 
and  should  not  coin  another  until  we  can  use  those  we 
have. 

Besides,  our  standard  silver  dollar  is  not  a  dollar  in 
fact.  It  is  worth  but  seventy  cents,  and  silver  is  still 
depreciating.  It  is  because  of  the  depreciation  in  the 
value  of  silver,  owing  to  a  large  increase  in  the  production 
of  silver  mines  beyond  the  demand  for  their  product, 
during  the  last  three  to  four  decades,  that  caused  the 
demonetization  of  silver  as  a  standard  money  in  this  and 


184  GOVERNMENT   APPRAISEMENT 

other  countries,  and  which  renders  it  impossible  to  fix  a 
proportion  of  value  between  gold  and  silver.  Silver  is 
no  longer  coined  in  any  country  of  Europe  except  as 
secondary  coin. 

Governments  can  not  make  values.  They  can  but 
accept  values  as  they  find  them.  The  value  of  gold, 
and  silver,  and  iron;  of  wheat,  cotton  and  corn  and  every 
other  commodity  produced  by  men,  depends  wholly  upon 
supply  and  demand,  and  no  power  upon  earth,  except 
that  of  monopoly,  can  evade  this  inexorable  law.  A 
government  puts  its  stamp  upon  a  coin  and  says  "  this  is  a 
dollar,"  because  the  coin  is,  or  should  be,  made  of  metal 
which  is  worth  the  amount,  or  nearly  the  amount  stamped. 

The  stamp  is  the  sign  of  government  appraisement  ; 
it  has  nothing  to  do  with  creating  or  fixing  value  to  the 
metal  used,  except  as  the  demand  is  increased  by  this  use. 
Establishing  a  "  legal  tender "  quality  to  the  coin  is 
entirely  distinct  from  the  actual  value.  Treasury  notes 
are  made  legal  -  tender  by  government  fiatj  but  coined 
money  is  used  as  a  standard  of  value  because  it  is,  or 
should  be,  intrinsically  worth  what  the  stamp  calls  for, 
or  very  nearly  as  much.  There  is  no  good  reason  for 
making  it  otherwise  except  to  cover  the  cost  of  coinage 
and  handling.  The  lesser  coins  are  very  properly  made 
less  valuable. 

For  the  United  States  io  make  a  coin  worth  only  seventy 
cents  and  call  it  a  standard  dollar  is  unwise — is  a  "  false 
pretense  "  and  unworthy  our  reputation  as  a  nation  com- 
posed of  enlightened,  substantial  people,  and  having 
stable  institutions.  It  is  true  that  these  silver  dollars 
pass  as  well  as  gold,  except  for  inconvenience  of  bulk  and 
weight.     Yes,  they  do  for  the  same  reason  that  our  bank 


SUBSIDIZING  SILVER  MINE  OWNERS  186 

notes  and  treasury  notes  pass  as  readily  as  gold,  simply 
because  all  our  money  which  is  not  gold  is  exchangeable  for 
gold.  Our  "  coin  of  the  realm  "  should  be  actually  worth 
its  face.  Treasury  notes  are  but  "  promises  to  pay."  To 
coin  a  dollar  which  is  seven-tenths  value  and  three- tenths 
"  promise  to  pay"  is  a  nondescript  money  which  should 
not  be  continued. 

Besides,  as  it  is  true  that  the  silver  dollar  is  largely  the 
money  of  the  laboring  classes — of  those  who  work  for  a 
dollar  or  a  dollar  and  a  half  a  day,  and  buy  the  neces- 
saries of  life  in  corresponding  amounts — that  is  the  more 
reason,  if  any  were  needed,  why  the  dollar  coin  should  be 
actually  worth  a  dollar.  For  labor  is  the  producer  of  all 
wealth  and  should  be  paid  in  the  very  best  money. 

But,  while  these  are  grave  objections,  they  are  not  the 
most  serious  ones  to  this  proposed  free  coinage  of  silver, 
but  it  is  the  fact  that  this  proposition  is  a  scheme  to  sub- 
sidize silver  mine  owners  by  a  direct  bounty  of  of^er  forty 
per  cent  on  all  the  silver  they  can  produce,  which  is  the 
gravest  objection.  It  is  not  so  understood  by  the  large 
number  of  farmers  and  others  who  advocate  it  as  a  means 
of  relief  from  their  present  burdened  condition.  But  the 
mine  owners  who  meet  in  convention  and  resolve  unani- 
mously to  insist  upon  free  coinage  of  their  product,  very 
well  understand  v;hat  it  means  to  them. 

It  is  proposed  that  the  nation  shall  buy  all  the  silver 
which  may  be  offered,  paying  for  it  in  coined  silver 
dollars  or  in  silver  certificates,  on  a  basis  of  one 
dollar  for  an  amount  of  silver  equal  to  that  in  our 
silver  dollar.  That  is  to  say,  to  pay  one  dollar  for  an 
amount  of  silver  which  is  now  worth  less  than  seventy 
cents.     And  to  buy  all  that  is  offered,  on  this  basis. 


186  SUBSIDIZIl^G  SILVER  MINE  OWNERS 

But  advocates  of  free  coinage  tell  us  that  we  do  not 
propose  to  buy  silver  at  all,  but  only  to  coin  it  for  the 
mine  owners.  That  is  a  quibble,  li  is  proposed  io  receive 
silver  in  exchange  for  silver  dollars.  If  that  is  not  buying, 
pray  tell  how  we  do  when  we  buy?  And  we  would,  of 
course,  continue  to  exchange  our  gold  for  silver  dollars 
with  those  who  wished  to  exchange. 

We  have  been  subsidizing  copper  mine  owners,  and 
steel  rail  makers,  and  white  lead  trusts,  and'  in  one  way 
and  another  a  great  many  other  monopolists,  but  this  is 
the  boldest  proposal  yet,  to  pay  a  direct  subsidy  to  a  lot 
of  millionaires  as  a  means  of  relief  for  the  distress  of  the 
toiling  millions,  and  the  proposal  advocated  by  some  of 
the  toilers  1  This  would  be  decidedly  a  case  of  protection 
to  an  "  infant"  millionaire  industry  I 

When  the  government  needs  silver  for  coin  or  for 
bullion  it  should  continue  to  buy  it  in  the  market  at  the 
market  price.  There  is  no  good  reason  and  there  can  be 
none  why  the  nation  should  pay  silver  producers  or  any 
body  else  a  price  for  their  product  greater  than  such 
articles  are  worth  in  the  markets.  We  should  have 
national  coinage  of  silver  and  of  gold.  The  nation  should 
make  and  should  issue  all  money  and  should  have  all 
the  profit  accruing  therefrom,  and  all  the  people — not 
silver  mine  owners  more  than  bankers — should  receive 
the  benefit. 


CHAPTER  XXXI 

THE  SUB-TREASURY  PLAN.     FIVE  OBJECTIONS  SET 
FORTH.    LOANS  UPON  LAND  SECURITY. 

The  proposed  sub-treasury  scheme  has  merits  and  demerits. 
The  objections  to  it  are,  not  that  the  government  may  not 
do  a  legitimate  banking  business,  may  not  loan  money  to 
the  people  under  proper  conditions,  but  are,  1.  That 
money  should  not  be  loaned  on  any  property  security  in 
as  large  proportion  as  eighty  per  cent  of  its  value;  2. 
Nor  upon  any  farm  product  for  a  longer  time  than  from 
three  to  six  months;  3.  Nor  at  as  low  a  rate  of  interest 
as  2  per  cent  ;  4-  Nor  should  the  government  make  an 
issue  of  treasury  notes  for  the  sole  purpose  of  loaning  it 
to  the  people  ;  5.  Nor  should  such  issue  be  made  at  one 
season  of  the  year  to  be  cancelled  at  another.  The 
proposition  that  the  government  loan  money  to  the  peo- 
ple on  land  security  is  also  unwise. 

1.  Loans  should  not  be  made  upon  any  kind  of  property 
for  more  than  one-half  its  value.  A  loan  of  eighty  per 
cent  of  the  value  upon  farm  products  would  in  many 
cases  be  equivalent  to  purchasing  the  product.  Such 
products  are  subject  to  frequent  fluctuations  in  value. 
The  price  is  liable  to  either  increase  or  decrease  at  any 
time  or  season.  Sometimes  the  price  drops  materially 
soon  after  a  harvest.  California  dried  peaches  sold 
readily  at  twenty  cents  per  pound  from  the  ranches  in 
October,  1890,  and  within  sixty  days  could  not  be  sold  at 

187 


188  DURATION   OF   LOANS 

fifteen  cents  per  pound.  Errors  are  liable  in  appraisinc 
values.  The  cost  of  holding  constantly  adds  to  the 
amount  of  the  loan.  As  usual,  the  amount  of  the  mort- 
gage surely  and  constantly  grows,  while  the  value  of  the 
property  may  not.  The  legitimate  province  of  loaning 
money  does  not  include  the  probability  of  having  to  take 
the  property  in  exchange  for  the  money  loaned.  What- 
ever business  the  nation  undertakes  to  do,  it  should  do  in 
a  business  way,  and  the  business  of  loaning  money  does 
not  contemplate  loaning  such  an  amount  upon  property  as 
would  be  liable  to  result  in  a  purchase  of  the  goods  in 
payment  of   the  loan. 

2.  Loans  upon  farm  products  should  not  he  for  a  longer 
time  than  six  months^  and  better  be  for  not  over  three 
months. 

It  is  not  usually  good  policy  to  hold  farm  products 
longer  than  a  few  weeks  after  they  are  ready  for  market, 
for  an  advance  in  price.  The  cost  of  extra  handling, 
storage,  insurance,  interest,  shrinkage,  and  other  losses, 
will  usually  more  than  offset  any  probable  advance  in 
price,  if  longer  held.  While  it  frequently  pays  to  hold 
for  a  short  time  for  an  advance,  it  is  certainly  not  often 
wise  to  hold  crops  for  six  or  nine  months  for  a  higher 
price.  Such  holding  tends  to  a  cumulation  of  crops  by 
piling  one  upon  another,  and  would  also,  from  the  cost  of 
holding,  almost  invariably  result  in  loss. 

Besides,  the  holding  of  property  which  one  does  not 
need,  and  which  is  not  in  itself  growing  in  value,  for  an 
advance  in  price,  is  done  upon  speculation — gambling  in 
futures — which  is  always  delusive  and  dangerous,  and 
the  risk  is  greater  in  articles  which  are  perishable  (and 
most  farm  products  are  more  or  less  so),  and  still  more 


MONEY    AT   TWO    PER    CENT  189 

so^where  one  owes  for  the  property.  And  it  would  be 
very  unwise  on  the  part  of  the  government  to  undertake, 
systematically,  to  encourage  such  speculative  holdings  by 
furnishing  to  an  entire  body  of  producers  in  several 
states  the  money  with  which  to  carry  on  such  specu- 
lation. 

3.  Money  should  not  he  loaned  to  the  people  at  as  low  a 
rate  as  two  per  cent  per  annum. 

It  is  true  that  our  government  has  issued  sorrie  two  per 
cent  bonds,  but  they  are  not  readily  salable  except  to  the 
national  banks  as  a  basis  for  their  issue  of  notes.  British 
Consols  pay  two  and  a  half  per  cent,  and  that  is  the  low- 
est rate  at  which  any  nation  or  corporate  power  can 
regularly  obtain  money.  It  is  very  evident  that  our 
government  should  not  loan  money  at  the  lowest  rate  at 
which  it  can  possibly  borrow.  The  business  of  loaning 
money  cannot  be  done  without  a  profit  any  more  readily 
than  can  the  business  of  selling  calico  or  potatoes  be  done 
without  a  profit.  The  rate  of  interest  upon  money, 
whether  loaned  by  the  nation,  by  a  bank  or  by  any  one 
else,  must  depend  upon  supply  and  demand,  and  upon 
locality,  amount,  conditions,  security  and  time. 

The  demand  that  the  government  shall  loan  money  to 
the  people  at  two  per  cent  savors  entirely  too  much  of 
that  socialism  which  demands  something  for  nothing  and 
which  is  not  socialism  but  communism. 

4.  The  government  shoidd  not  make  an  issue  of  treasury 
notes  for  the  sole  purpose  of  loaning  to  the  people. 

The  first  effect  of  such  a  general  loan  would  be  to  make 
a  sudden  expansion  of  currency,  to  increase  indebtedness, 
to  increase  business  hazards,  to  encourage  speculation,  to 
inflate  values,  to  induce  lavish  expenditures  and  extrav- 


190  LOANS   ON   LAND   SECURITY 

agant  living,  and  to  decrease  farm  production  by  decreas- 
ing the  necessity  for  labor  and  increasing  the  proportion 
of  middlemen,  speculators  and  gentlemen  of  leisure.  The 
secondary  effect  of  such  a  loan  would  be  a  depreciation 
of  currency  which  would  inevitably  result  in  financial 
disaster  to  the  nation  and  in  widespread  loss  and  ruin 
to  many  people.  Temporary  loans  in  moderate  amounts 
might  be  safely  made,  but  not  such  loans  by  wholesale. 

5.  The  government  should  not  issue  treasury  notes  at  one 
season  of  the  year  to  he  cancelled  at  another,  unless  new 
issues  were  made  to  replace  those  cancelled,  for  the  result 
of  periodic  issues  and  cancellations  would  be  to  produce 
frequent  expansions  and  contractions  of  the  currency 
which  could  not  be  foreseen,  and  would  operate  to 
unsettle  financial  and  business  affairs. 

Loans  on  land  security.  The  proposition  to  issue 
treasury  notes  to  be  loaned  to  the  people  on  land  security 
is  open  to  all  the  objections  of  an  issue  to  be  loaned  upon 
farm  products,  and  to  other  objections  which  do  not 
exist  in  the  latter  case. 

The  farmer's  products  are  for  sale.  For  him  to  obtain 
a  loan  upon  his  products  for  a  limited  time  in  order 
to  enable  him  to  effect  an  advantageous  sale  is  not 
open  to  serious  objection.  It  is  better  for  him  to  manage 
without  borrowing  if  he  can,  but  it  is  at  times  excusable 
or  even  desirable  for  him  to  borrow  on  his  products. 

But  the  Jarmer^s  land  is  not  for  sale  if  he  intends  to  con- 
tinue to  work  the  farm.  A  mortgage  is  a  sale.  When  the 
farmer  borrows  money  upon  his  land  he  sells  his  land  to 
secure  payment  of  the  loan,  and  then  undertakes  to 
redeem  it  by  paying  the  loan  with  interest.  It  is  the 
mortgages  on  the  farms  that  we  need  to  get  rid  of.  The 


THE    BURDEN    OF   A    MORTGAGE  191 

farm  mortgage  burden  should  be  lifted,  and  the  hazard- 
ous, disastrous  practice  of  mortgaging  farms  should  be, 
as  far  as  possible,  abolished. 

It  is  far  better  for  a  man  to  be  a  tenant  farmer  than  to 
bear  the  burden  of  a  heavily  mortgaged  farm.  The  man 
in  the  former  condition  is  "  as  free  as  a  bird  "  as  com- 
pared with  him  who  struggles  under  the  load  of  a  large 
mortgage.  The  care,  the  worry,  the  anxiety,  the  never 
ending  toil,  the  scrimping  and  saving,  the  want  and  hard- 
ship of  those  who  contend  with  the  often  almost  hopeless 
task  of  paying  a  mortgage  on  the  farm,  will  hurry  a  man 
or  woman  to  an  untimely  grave  faster  than  almost  any 
other  financial  evil  which  could  possibly  beset  them. 

There  are  times  when,  as  a  result  of  adverse  circum- 
stances a  man  has  got  behind  and  is  unable  to  carry  on 
his  business  without  a  loan,  it  is  best  to  make  a  loan  on 
the  farm.  But  a  man  should  not  begin  with  a  mortgage, 
should  not  start  out  in  that  way,  should  not  incur  debt 
when  it  can  possibly  be  avoided,  should  avoid  expendi- 
tures which  may  lead  to  a  mortgage,  should  avoid  a  heavy 
mortgage  as  he  would  a  pestilence. 

Should  the  government  offer  to  loan  money  on  lands  to 
the  amount  of  one-half  their  value,  at  four  or  five  per 
cent  on  long  time,  the  temptation  to  borrow  would  be  too 
strong  for  very  many  people  to  resist,  and  there  would  be 
a  large  demand  for  the  money.  And  an  issue  of  the 
amount  of  money  which  would  be  called  for  would  result 
in  such  an  expansion  of  the  currency  as  would  inevitably, 
beyond  the  possibility  of  doubt,  lead  to  much  extrava- 
gance and  speculation,  and  would  end  in  a  general  finan- 
cial panic,  in  widespread  business  disaster,  and  in 
poverty  and  want. 


192  MORTGAGING  THE  HOME,   KOT  THE  WAY  OUT 

Going  into  debt,  borrowing  money  upon  land,  specula- 
tion in  land,  needless  expenditure  and  extravagant  living, 
are  evils  which  should  not  be  encouraged.  Permanent 
relief  for  the  burdened  laboring  classes  does  not  lie  in  the 
direction  of  putting  mortgages  on  their  homes. 


CHAPTER  XXXII 

taxatioX'-various  ways  of  raising  revenues— 
some  general  principles  for  taxation. 

The  methods  of  raising  revenues  in  our  country,  are, 
to  a  considerable  extent,  primitive,  cumbersome  and 
unwise  ;  in  many  respects  they  are  vicious — favoring  the 
rich  and  oppressing  the  poor.  In  the  matter  of  taxation 
we  have  much  to  learn,  and  much  room  for  improvement, 
and  in  this  direction  we  must  look  for  ways  and  means 
of  lightening  some  of  the  present  heavy  burdens  of  our 
industrial  classes. 

In  order  to  raise  money  to  defray  the  expenses  of 
government  various  means  have  been  employed.  Taxes 
have  been  levied  upon  imports  and  exports  ;  upon  prop- 
erty of  all  kinds  and  upon  persons  ;  upon  luxuries  and 
vices ;  upon  business,  incomes  and  legacies.  Nations 
raise  revenues  from  the  ownership  and  conduct  of  mines, 
fisheries,  forests  and  other  great  natural  opportunities  ; 
by  the  sale,  lease  or  improvement  of  public  lands  j  by 


THE  BEST  PLAN  FOR  RAISING  REVENUES  193 

the  granting  of  franchises  and  other  privileges  ;  by- 
coining  money  and  by  banking  ;  by  the  construction  and 
operation  of  canals,  railways,  bridges  and  other  public 
works  ;  by  conducting  a  mail  service,  telegraph  service, 
and  in  various  other  ways.  Municipalities  raise  revenues 
by  owning  and  operating  gas,  electric  and  water  works, 
street  car  lines,  and  by  constructing  and  operating 
other  municipal  improvements  for  public  uses. 

The  most  desirable,  least  burdensome,  and  least  objec- 
tionable method  of  raising  revenue  for  the  support  of 
government,  is  for  the  government  to  own  and  manage 
all  public  means  of  transportation  and  communication 
and  other  great  public  monopolies,  and  to  derive  a 
profit  from  carrying  on  such  business.  This  would  be 
a  decided  improvement  over  any  method  of  taxation.  This 
is  a  part  of  the  advantages  which  should  result  from  gov- 
ernment ownership  of  railway  and  telegraph  lines,  of  coal 
fields  and  of  other  mines  and  great  natural  opportunities 
for  acquiring  wealth.  Australia  is  leading  the  countries 
of  the  world  in  this  as  in  some  other  great  reforms,  and 
is  now  deriving  a  part  of  the  income  needed  for  the 
support  of  its  government  by  such  means.  The  German 
government  derives  an  income  from  its  railways  and  its 
coal  mines. 

Some  general  principles  of  taxation.  Until  we  become 
sufficiently  enlightened  and  practical  to  raise  the  needed 
revenues  for  government  support  by  wiser  methods,  we 
shall  still  be  compelled  to  tax  ourselves  for  that  purpose, 
and  we  should  adopt  some  wiser  methods  than  now  pre- 
vail in  the  nation  and  in  many  states  of  the  Union. 

1.  Taxes  should  be  so  levied  as  to  be  paid  by  the  people 
in  proportion  to   their   ability    to  pay    them.     Taxes   are 


194  OBJECTIONS  TO  SOME  OF  OUR  METHODS 

usually  levied  at  a  uniform  rate  upon  all  property, 
regardless  of  its  productiveness,  of  its  utility  or  of  the 
ability  of  the  owners  to  pay.  The  farmer,  the  laborer, 
the  common  people,  who  are  taxed  upon  all  they 
possess  and  upon  much  of  what  they  consume,  pay 
a  greater  proportion  of  tax  than  do  the  rich,  whose 
property  is  usually  not  as  fully  assessed  and  which  to  a 
much  larger  extent  escapes  taxation  altogether.  A  tax 
upon  articles  consumed — upon  the  necessaries  of  life — 
bears  especially  heavy  upon  the  poor,  for  a  tax  upon  con- 
sumption, in  the  case  of  the  poor  w^ho  need  to  use  all  or 
nearly  all  their  earnings  to  provide  the  necessaries  of  life, 
means  a  heavy  tax  upon  nearly  every  dollar  earned,  while 
in  the  case  of  the  rich  it  is  a  tax  on  only  a  very  small  part 
of  their  income. 

Besides,  in  the  case  of  taxes  upon  imports,  higher 
rates  are  often  charged  upon  articles  of  the  most  common 
necessity  than  upon  those  used  as  luxuries.  Our  tariff 
rates  are  higher  upon  common  fabrics  of  cotton  and  wool, 
than  upon  finer  ones  of  wool,  fur  and  silk,  and  this  is  a 
serious  objection  to  our  present  tariff. 

There  is  a  class  of  people  who  are  either  morally, 
intellectually  or  physically  incompetent  for  respectable 
self  support.  Of  this  class  are  the  dependents,  paupers, 
criminals  and  others  who  are  partly  or  wholly  supported 
by  state  or  private  charity.  Above  this  class — this  "  sub- 
merged tenth" — is  a  large  number  who  are  endeavoring, 
struggling — now  succeeding  and  now  failing — to  provide 
for  themselves  and  to  be  respectable,  self-supporting  citi- 
zens. Among  these  are  the  poor,  the  ignorant,  the  weak, 
the  infirm,  those  who  are  not  well  employed  or  are  poorly 
paid,  those  who  have  met  with  reverses  or  mishaps,  those 


LAY     NO     BURDENS,     ETC.  195 

who  have  but  little,  and  either  have  no  homes  of  their  own 
or  very  humble  ones.  To  tax  such  people  for  any  purpose 
is  barbarous.  Such  should  be  assisted  rather  than  ham- 
pered in  their  struggle  for  life. 

It  is  a  first  duty  of  governments  to  protect  and  help 
tlie  weak,  to  make  it  as  easy  as  possible  for  men  to  be 
honest,  upright,  respectable,  self-supporting,  and  to  lay 
no  burdens  upon  those  who  are  unable  to  bear  them. 
They  should  not  be  taxed.  To  tax  such  is  oppression 
like  unto  the  exactions  of  an  absolute  monarch  of  a  por- 
tion of  the  substance  of  his  toiling  serfs. 

An  amount  covering  the  value  of  an  humble  home 
should  be  exempt  from  the  taxation  of  property  used  for 
a  home,  and  an  amount  covering  the  value  of  the  most  nec- 
essary articles  of  household  effects  should  also  be  exempt 
from  tax.  An  exemption  (of  perhaps  $800  to  $1,200),  vary- 
ing indifferent  states,  should  be  made  in  the  assessment  of 
the  home  and  its  belongings,  to  the  end  that  those  who  have 
so  little  shall  not  be  taxed.  Some  states  have  such 
exemptions,  but  many  have  not.  To  exempt  those  who 
are  unable  to  pay,  or  upon  whom  such  payment  would 
be  a  hardship  not  easily  borne  should  be  the  first  princi- 
ple of  taxation. 

2.  Taxes  upon  property  should  be  mainly  upon  the  nat- 
ural opportunities  for  acquiring  wealth,  and  not  upon  the 
products  of  labor — upon  lands,  mines,  franchises  ;  not 
upon  tools,  machinery,  improvements. 

Land  derives  its  value  from  the  community,  from  the 
whole  people,  because  of  the  presence,  the  labors,  the 
needs  of  the  whole.  As  the  community  gives  value  to 
the  land,  society  as  a  whole,  the  state,  should  exact  a  large 
part  of  its  revenues  from  the  land.     Every  good  citizen, 


196  A  REMEDY  FOR  LAND  SPECULATION 

by  his  residence,  whether  he  have  much  or  little  property, 
adds  value  to  the  land  in  the  locality  where  he  resides. 
The  town  lots  of  the  city  and  the  lands  in  the  country 
are  valuable  in  proportion  to  the  number  of  resident 
population  and  the  general  wealth  of  the  people. 

Aside  from  other  reasons  why  land  is  and  should  be 
the  chief  subject  of  property  taxation,  this  principle,  that 
that  which  is  made  valuable  by  the  whole  people  should 
pay  tribute  to  the  whole,  is  a  suflQcient  reason  why  land 
should  bear  the  principal  burden  of  the  property  tax. 
And  by  a  similar  process  of  reasoning,  that  which  the 
individual  has  made  for  himself,  has  accumulated  by  his 
labor  and  care,  should  be  favored  in  the  matter  of  taxation; 
should,  as  far  as  may  be  found  practicable  and  equitable, 
be  relieved  from  taxation. 

Another  and  more  important  reason  why  lands  and 
other  natural  opportunities  should  be  made  to  bear  the 
large  share  of  property  tax,  and  a  reason  based  more  upon 
practical  and  less  upon  ethical  grounds,  is,  that  a  heavy 
tax  upon  lands,  and  especially  upon  unused  lands,  acts 
as  a  remedy  for  one  of  the  great  causes  of  poverty,  waste 
and  loss,  speculation  in  land.  This  evil  is  so  great,  so 
widespread,  so  far  reaching,  so  disastrous,  so  beyond  all 
control  from  good  momls  or  any  other  ordinary  means,  that 
we  may  well  apply  this  as  the  only  possible  remedy  for 
the  evil.  By  making  lands  and  city  lots  and  mines  and 
franchises  pay  a  large  part  of  the  burden  of  taxation  we 
shall  certainly  lessen  the  evils  of  land  speculation.  It 
would  tend  to  the  holding  of  land  for  use  only. 

It  would  also  be  a  check  upon  land  monopoly,  upon 
the  holding  of  land  in  large  bodies  by  wealthy  men  and 
speculators  to  the  injury  of  those  who  need  land  for  nee. 


A  KEMEDY  FOR  LAND  MONOPOLY  AND  LAND  POVERTY    197 

It  would  open  the  way  for  many  people  of  small  means 
who  need  a  piece  of  land  or  a  town  lot  for  a  home  but 
cannot  now  obtain  it,  to  secure  what  they  need.  And  it 
would  induce  the  holding  of  only  so  much  land  as  one 
could  well  improve  and  bring  to  a  high  state  of  cultiva- 
tion. 

It  is  an  evil  in  this  country  of  much  land,  that  many 
men  hold  more  of  it  than  they  can  profitably  cultivate 
or  otherwise  care  for.  Fifty  acres  of  land  well  tilled  will 
usually  bring  a  larger  income  than  will  one  hundred 
acres  poorly  tilled,  while  saving  the  cost  of  fencing,  cul- 
tivating and  payiiig  taxes  on  the  larger  tract.  As  a  rule, 
in  our  country  men  try  to  hold  and  improve  more  land 
than  they  have  the  capital  or  labor  to  make  profitable; 
and  anything  that  could  be  done  equitably  to  discourage 
the  holding  of  unused  or  poorly  used  land,  and  to 
encourage  a  high  state  of  cultivation,  would  make  for  the 
farmers  comfort  and  independence. 

The  farmer  is  liable  to  think  that  the  value  of  a  town 
lot  is  small  as  compared  with  land  for  a  farm.  This  is 
not  the  case.  Desirable  town  lots  cost  about  as  much  as 
desirable  pieces  of  vacant  land  for  farms,  and  it  is  about 
as  diflicult  for  a  poor  man  in  the  city  to  obtain  a  good 
lot  for  a  home  as  for  the  farmer  to  secure  a  good  piece  of 
ground  for  a  farm  ;  perhaps  more  so,  as  city  lots  are 
more  often  held  upon  speculation  and  above  their  value 
than  is  farming  land.  While  the  land  of  the  farmer  and  of 
the  city  resident  should  be  fully  taxed,  the  tools,  orchards, 
stock  and  fences  of  the  farmer,  the  tools  and  machinery 
of  the  mechanic,  and  the  goods  and  fixtures  of  the  mer- 
chant and  shop-keeper  should  be  exempt  from  taxation. 
The  direct  product  of  labor,  and  especially  the   appli- 


198  A   SINGLE    PROPERTY    TAX 

ances  for  use  by  the  laborer,  should  be  relieved  from 
taxation  as  far  as  practicable,  while  the  burden  of  tax  so 
far  as  it  is  necessary  to  raise  it  from  property  may  well 
be  borne  by  the  land — man's  natural  heritage,  a  part  of 
which  should  be  within  the  reach  of  every  man  that  he 
may  provide  himself  with  a  home. 

3.  Taxes  upon  property  should  he  only  on  such  property 
as  is  tangible  and  may  not  easily  escape  assessment,  and 
should  be  upon  the  thing  itself,  and  not  upon  rhortgages, 
stocks,  bonds  or  other  divided  or  separate  ownership  or  token 
of  ownership. 

Land  and  fixed  improvements  upon  the  land — buildings, 
railway  tracks,  telegraph  lines,  and  other  stationary 
property — best  answer  this  description,  and  are  really 
the  only  kinds  of  property  which  need  be  taxed.  Such 
property  is  readily  found  and  must  inevitably  pay  the 
taxes  levied,  while  personal  property  is  often  not  so 
easily  found  and  much  of  it  escapes  taxation,  so  that 
where  personal  property  is  taxed  the  burden  is  not  uni- 
form. Again,  the  value  of  real  property  for  assessment 
is  fixed  by  the  officials  whose  duty  it  is  to  place  a  value 
upon  it  and  these  assessed  values  are  uniform,  while 
personal  property  is  usually  valued  for  taxation  by  the 
owners,  and  the  assessed  values  vary  with  the  varying 
judgment  and  conscience  of  the  different  owners. 

Again,  the  greater  the  number  of  articles  taxed  the 
greater  the  cost  of  assessment  and  levy.  And  as  a  whole 
the  people  are  benefited  by  simplicity  in  the  methods  of 
taxation. 

In  view  of  these  and  other  reasons,  most  enlightened 
nations  no  longer  tax  personal  property.  In  this  as  in 
many  other  things  the  people  of  this  great  republic  are 


DISADVANTAGES    OF    MORTGAGE   TAXES  199 

behind  the  age.  We  have  a  very  productive  farm,  but  we 
have  not,  in  many  respects,  learned  how  to  properly  till 
the  farm,  care  for  our  estate  or  manage  our  household. 

The  government  should  not  be  concerned  about  the 
ownership  of  property  assessed.  It  should  look  to  the 
property  and  the  property  alone  to  pay  the  tax.  No  kind 
of  property  should  pay  more  than  one  tax,  and  the  person 
in  possession  should  be  held  for  that  tax.  There  can  be 
no  possible  advantage  to  any  one  from  an  assessment  of 
stocks,  bonds,  mortgages  and  credits,  and  such  a  system 
adds  to  the  cost,  the  annoyance,  the  vexation,  the  bur- 
den of  the  collection  of  taxes.  The  property  must  pay 
the  tax.  It  is  no  relief  to  the  owner  to  have  his  debt 
upon  the  property  assessed  to  his  creditor.  The  owner 
must  foot  all  the  bills. 

We  should  tax  a  railway  company  and  a  farmer  in  the 
same  manner.  Tax  the  property  of  the  company,  not  its 
stocks  and  bonds.  The  road  is  the  source  of  all  wealth 
of  the  company  and  must  pay  everything — taxes,  interest 
on  bonds,  dividends  on  stock,  etc.  And  there  is  no 
advantage  to  the  farmer  in  taxing  the  mortgage  on  his 
farm.  The  farmer  or  the  farm  must  ultimately  pay  all 
the  charges — taxes,  interest,  insurance,  assessments  and 
costs  of  whatever  kind,  and  the  government  cannot 
assist  him  by  assuming  to  elect  that  his  creditor  shall 
help  to  pay  his  taxes. 

A  tax  upon  realties — upon  land  and  fixed  improvements 
upon  the  land,  comes  nearest  to  answering  all  the  requi- 
sites for  the  basis  of  a  simple,  uniform,  impartial, 
economic,  sufficient  property  tax.  It  is  true  that  objections 
may  be  raised  to  such  a  basis  of  taxation,  but  greater 
objections  exist  to  any  other  system  of  property  taxation. 


CHAPTER  XXXIII 

NECESSITY  FOR  AN  INCOME  TAX.    EXPERIENCE 
OF  OTHER  COUNTRIES.     OBJECTIONS  CONSIDERED. 

Taxes  should  be  laid  upon  incomes  as  well  as  upon 
property.  No  tax  upon  property  alone,  of  few  or  many 
kinds,  is  sufficient  as  a  basis  for  a  uniform,  complete, 
impartial  system  of  taxation. 

There  is  a  large  proportion  of  people  who  have  little 
property  but  have  good  incomes,  and  are  well  able  to  pay 
and  should  pay  their  full  share  of  tax  burdens,  and  yet 
who,  under  our  present  system,  are  almost  or  entirely 
exempt  from  taxation.  Among  this  class  are  those 
working  upon  salaries  in  the  employment  of  government, 
of  railway,  telegraph,  manufacturing  or  other  corporations; 
men  engaged  in  real  estate,  insurance,  and  many  other 
kinds  of  business,  and  who  have  good  incomes,  who  live 
well,  spend  money  freely  and  take  the  world  easy,  but 
who  acquire  little  property,  and  under  our  system  do  not 
at  all,  in  proportion  to  ability,,  bear  their  share  of  the 
cost  of  government  support.  In  this  respect  "  They  toil 
not,  neither  do  they  spin."  They  receive  the  full  benefit 
of  the  social  compact  and  bear  no  part  of  the  expense  of 
maintaining  it.  It  does  not  require  the  ability  of  a  great 
statesman  to  see  that  in  this  regard  our  system  is  defect- 
ive.    Here  is  a  young  man  in  railway  employ  receiving 

200 


THE  INCOME  TAX  THE  MOST  EQUITABLE  ONE  201 

$1,200  a  year  and  spending  it  all  and  paying  no  taxes. 
And  here  a  mechanic  working  for  $2  a  day  who  is 
assessed  $1,000  upon  his  property  and  pays  $25  yearly 
taxes. 

Then  there  are  many  rich  people  who  have  large 
incomes,  derived  from  mining,  banking,  manufacturing, 
transportation  or  other  lucrative  business,  and  whose  pay- 
ment of  taxes  from  property  assessments  is  not  at  all 
commensurate  with  their  ability  to  pay. 

A  tax  upon  incomes  is  in  fact  the  most  equitable  sys- 
tem of  taxation  which  can  possibly  be  devised,  because 
the  amount  of  income  received  by  each  individual  is  the 
best  measure  of  his  ability  to  bear  a  share  of  the  expense 
of  government.  And  a  tax  upon  incomes  alone  forms  a 
much  better  system  of  taxation  than  that  upon  property 
only. 

For  half  a  century  the  revenues  of  the  United  Kingdom 
have  been  raised  mostly  by  a  tax  upon  incomes  and  with 
no  property  tax.  Switzerland  and  Prussia  also  have 
income  taxes.  And  these  taxes  are  uniformly  approved 
by  the  people  of  these  countries  and  are  fully  established 
as  a  settled  principle  of  government. 

The  question  arises,  ^'  Why  then  do  we  not  adopt  a  sys- 
tem of  income  taxes?"  There  are  several  reasons.  The 
leading  one  is  that  an  income  tax  would  compel  capital- 
ists to  pay  their  proportion  of  taxes,  consequently  they 
do  not  favor  such  a  tax,  and,  as  usual,  the  interests  of 
the  rich  rather  than  of  the  poor  are  considered  by  many 
of  our  modern  politicians.  Again  there  is  our  honored 
system  of  prohibitory  tariff  taxes,  and  the  prohibitory 
party,  especially,  denounces  any  proposed  plan  of  raising 
revenues  which  might  perchance  interfere  with  the  benign 


202  OBJECTIONS  TO  AN  INCOME  TAX  CONSIDERED 

operations  of  our  high  tariffs.  And  from  these  premises 
it  follows  that  the  political  papers  and  leaders  workinc; 
for  party  success  and  in  the  interest  of  corporations  and 
capitalists  find  ready  arguments  in  opposition  to  this  as 
to  other  proposed  reforms. 

The  objections  usually  raised  to  an  income  tax  are  that 
it  is  "  inquisitorial,"  would  make  the  assessor  a  spy  upon 
every  man's  business,  accounts  and  affairs  ;  that  it  acts 
as  a  premium  upon  dishonesty  and  perjury,and  bears  hard- 
est upon  the  honest  man;  and  that  our  high  spirited,  free, 
independent  American  citizens  will  never  submit  to  such 
a  law  1 

Those  who  make  such  objections  do  not  see,  or  at  least 
do  not  call  attention  to  the  fact,  that  these  objections 
hold  in  a  greater  degree  against  all  taxes  upon  personal 
property.  The  citizen  is  catechised  as  to  the  value  of  his 
household  goods,  his  beds,  bedding,  kitchen  utensils,  his 
money,  notes,  credits,  pigs,  poultry,  watches  and  every 
earthly  thing  which  he  possesses.  And  is  this  not 
*'  inquisitorial  ?  "  And  do  not  the  dishonest,  in  assessing 
such  property,  cover  up  as  much  as  possible  the  extent 
and  value  of  their  possessions?  And  does  this  not  act  as 
a  premium  upon  perjury  ? 

All  such  objections  against  an  income  tax  may  be  made 
with  greater  force  against  a  tax  upon  personal  property. 
And  how  about  tariff  taxes?  Are  not  they  "  inquisitorial?  " 
No  other  tax  system  calls  for  such  rigid  question  and 
search  of  one's  baggage,  clothing,  personal  effects  and 
even  of  one's  person.     How  is  that  for  inquisitorial  ? 

These  objections  would  not  be  valid  or  admissible  in 
the  case  of  those  employed  upon  salary,  nor  would  it  in 
most  other  cases  be  as  difficult  to  determine  the  one  item 


THERE  SHOULD  BE  NO  DOUBLE  TAX        203 

of  income  as  it  would  to  find  the  ownership  and  fix  the 
value  of  a  long  list  of  goods,  wares,  chattels  and  effects. 

In  all  of  these  particulars  it  is  easier,  more  simple, 
more  practicable  to  arrive  at  a  just  and  uniform  assess- 
ment of  the  value  of  incomes,  taking  the  people  as  a 
whole,  than  to  equitably  assess  their  personal  propert3\ 
And  the  most  of  those  who  object  to  an  income  tax  do 
not  object  to  the  personal  tax. 

However,  granting  that  there  would  be  difficulty  in 
rightly  assessing  the  value  of  incomes  in  a  certain  pro- 
portion of  cases,  just  as  there  is  in  an  assessment  of  per- 
sonalties, the  fact  will  still  remain  that  there  is  a  large 
proportion  of  people  who  are  abundantly  able  to  pay  a 
full  share  of  the  cost  of  government  maintenance,  but 
who  now  escape  bearing  their  part  of  this  burden  and 
will  continue  to  do  so  until  we  adopt  an  income  tax,  and 
the  fact  remains  that  there  can  be  no  equitable  system  of 
taxation  which  does  not  include  the  income  tax. 

The  income  tax  should  not  be  made  a  double  tax.  The 
individual  should  not  be  taxed  on  his  income  and  equally 
on  property  from  which  the  income  is  partly  or  wholly 
derived.  The  amount  of  tax  upon  the  farm,  the  mill,  the 
store,  the  shop  or  other  property  from  which  income  is 
derived  should  be  deducted  from  the  amount  of  tax  upon 
income. 

Some  writers  upon  this  subject  contend  that  there 
should  be  no  deductions  from  the  amount  of  income  tax 
on  account  of  any  tax  upon  property  from  which  the  in- 
come is  derived.  They  reason  that  a  tax  upon  incomes 
is  a  measure  of  relief  to  those  who  are  taxed  upon  prop- 
erty, because  it  compels  many  to  pay  taxes  who  have  no 
property,  or  to  pay  in  excess  of  their  property  tax,  and, 


204  INCOME    TAX    EXEMPTIONS 

consequently,  that  those  who  are  benefited  by  this  tax 
should  not  object  if  under  the  new  system  they  are 
required  to  pay  their  proportion  of  the  income  tax,  as 
well.  It  is  clear  that  an  income  tax  acts  as  a  measure  of 
relief  to  those  taxed  upon  property,  but  we  cannot  see 
that  this  is  a  reason  why  those  who  have  property  should 
be  doubly  taxed  in  order  to  reach  those  who  have  none. 
Such  taxation  would  tend  to  make  the  holding  of  property 
unprofitable,  and  would  discourage  the  owning  of  property. 

One  advantage  of  an  income  tax  is,  that  it  favors  the 
holding  of  property  by  placing  a  share  of  tax  burdens 
on  those  who  have  no  property  and  thus  lessens  the  bur- 
dens of  those  who  have  homes  of  their  own. 

The  tax  on  incomes  should  be  only  on  the  surplus  over 
an  amount  required  for  a  comfortable  living  of  a  family 
in  humble  circumstances.  A  reasonable  exemption,  in 
most  states,  would  probably  be  $500,  of  income,  not  sub- 
ject to  tax. 


CHAPTER  XXXIV 

A  TAX  ON  INHERITANCES.    ADVANTAGES  OF  SUCH 
A  TAX. 

Wealth  is  omnipotent.  It  dominates  all  interests.  It 
rules  in  social,  in  business  and  in  state  affairs.  The  will 
of  the  man  who  counts  his  wealth  by  millions  is  often 
more  potent  in  deciding  affairs  of  the  community  and  of 
the  state  than  is  the  voice  of  a  thousand  men  who  are 
dependent  on  their  daily  toil  for  support. 


THE    ARISTOCRACY    OF    WEALTH  205 

The  aggressive  power  of  the  men  of  great  wealth,  who, 
to  a  large  extent,  control  transportation,  manufacturing, 
mining  and  other  great  industries  ;  who  form  oil,  sugar, 
beef  and  other  trusts  and  dictate  the  prices  of  the  neces- 
saries of  life  ;  and  who  so  largely  dominate  in  the  enact- 
ment and  administration  of  the  laws,  has  come  to  be  a 
great  tax  upon  the  industries,  a  drain  upon  the  wealth, 
and  a  bar  to  the  progress  of  the  laboring  classes,  and  is  a 
menace  to  the  success  of  popular  government. 

This  grave  evil,  the  accumulation  of  vast  wealth  in 
the  hands  of  a  few  men,  is  being  constantly  augmented 
by  the  transmission  of  these  accumulations  from  gene- 
ration to  generation,  thus  perpetuating  a  monied  class,  an 
aristocracy  of  wealth,  which  is  not  in  harmony  with 
American  character  or  with  our  Republican  institutions. 

The  founders  of  this  great  Republic  set  out  to  establish 
a  true  Democracy,  a  nation  ruled  by  its  common  people, 
where  the  laws  should  be  in  the  interest  of  all,  where  no 
class  should  have  special  favors  and  where  aristocrats 
should  be  unknown. 

They  sought  to  found  a  nation  where  the  common  peo- 
ple should  not  be  ruled  and  oppressed  by  a  king  and 
nobility  who  assumed  entire  ownership  of  the  land  and 
full  power  to  rule  over  their  fellow  men,  and  whose  power 
was  perpetuated  by  the  entail  of  assumed  ownership  and 
authority  from  the  father  to  the  oldest  son.  And  they 
thought  to  insure  the  people  from  the  domination  of  an 
aristocracy  by  abrogation  of  the  law  of  primogeniture. 
But,  in  these  latter  days,  a  new  aristocracy  has  arisen — 
an  aristocracy  of  wealth,  which,  like  the  landed  and  titled 
aristocracies  of  Europe,  is  dominant  and  oppressive,  and 
measures  are  demanded  to  abate  this  aggressive  power. 


206    LIMITING    THE    TRANSMISSION    OF  GREAT  FORTUNES 

This  is  one  of  the  problems  with  which  we  are  con- 
fronted. We  may  enact  laws,  institute  reforms  and  in- 
augurate enterprises  by  the  state,  tending  to  produce 
more  nearly  an  equilibrium  of  wealth  production  and 
distribution.  But  what  shall  we  do  to  curtail  the  power 
of  the  aristocracy  which  now  exists,  and  which,  under 
our  laws,  is  being  perpetuated  and  increased  in  numbers 
and  in  power?  How  shall  we  place  limits  upon  enor- 
mous aggregations  of  wealth  in  few  hands?  There  should 
be  some  method  of  putting  limitations  upon  the  power  of 
the  "  dangerous  wealthy  classes,"  and  though  we  may  not 
restrict  legitimate  acquisitions,  we  can  at  least  limit  the 
transmission  of  large  accumulations,  and  this  may  be  done 
properly  and  effectively  by  a  graduated  tax  upon  estates. 

Besides,  as  elsewhere  shown,  much  of  the  wealth  of 
millionaires  is  not  the  result  of  legitimate  earning  and 
saving.  It  has  been  drawn  from  its  rightful  sources  by 
exorbitant  charges  for  public  service,  by  exactions  from 
labor,  by  abstractions  from  the  public  domain,  by  mon- 
opoly, jobbery  and  plunder.  Much  of  this  wealth  be- 
longs of  right,  to  the  people  who  produced  it,  and  a  tax 
upon  estates  would  be  a  measure  of  compensation. 

The  rights,  the  property,  the  liberty  of  the  individual 
are  always  subject  to  the  interests  of  the  community. 
The  interests  of  society  are  paramount  to  those  of  the 
individual.  The  city  or  state  confiscates  or  prohibits  the 
use  of  the  property  of  the  brewer,  the  tanner,  the  soap 
maker,  the  butcher,  when  such  use  is  deemed  prejudicial 
to  the  interests  of  the  community.  The  state  prescribes 
rules  for  the  possession  and  right  use  of  property..  At 
every  step  in  life,  in  endeavoring  to  carry  out  our  own 
desires  are  we  met  by  the  requirements  of  the  state. 


OBJECTS   TO   BE   GAINED    BY    A   TAX    UPON    ESTATES    207 

If  the  state  prescribes  conditions  under  which  a  man 
may  acquire  and  transfer  property  during  his  life,  it 
more  narrowly  specifies  what  may  be  done  with  his 
property  after  his  death.  Testamentary  rights  are  often 
much  limited.  The  state  may  well  prescribe  what  may 
be  done  with  a  man's  estate  after  his  death,  and  from 
no  other  source  may  it  look  for  a  provision  for  a  consid- 
erable part  of  its  revenues  with  less  probability  of  hard- 
ship to  any  one,  or  with  as  much  benefit  to  the  commun- 
ity, as  from  a  scaled  tax  upon  estates,  and  especially  by 
a  heavy  tax  upon  estates  of  millionaires.  And  in  this 
way  may  we  place  some  restriction  upon  the  perpetuation 
of  our  aristocracy  of  wealth. 

This  could  be  done  without  hardship  or  burden  to  any 
one,  and  by  a  just,  wise  and  beneficent  use  of  the  powers 
and  prerogatives  of  the  state.  In  this  way  could  be 
effected  an  ample  provision  of  funds  for  schools,  libraries, 
hospitals,  reformatories  and  for  many  other  benevolent 
state  purposes  and  beneficial  public  improvements.  It 
would  also  act  as  a  relief  to  the  poor  from  the  burden  of 
taxation,  and  to  reduce  taxes  upon  realties.  It  would 
lessen  the  incentive  to  the  acquisition  of  great  fortunes 
and  be  an  incentive  to  men  of  wealth  to  devote  much  of 
their  means  and  energies  to  humanitarian  labors  and  to 
make  benevolent  bequests  during  life.  It  would  tend  to 
improve  the  financial  conditions  of  the  poor  and  middle 
classes  by  a  partial  redistribution  of  accumulated  wealth. 
And  it  would  act  as  a  restriction  upon  the  aggressive  and 
dangerous  power  of  the  very  wealthy  classes,  and  to  lessen 
the  extent  of  our  aristocracy  of  wealth  by  reducing  the 
amount  transmitted  from  parent  to  child. 

A  graduated  tax  upon   estates  should   be  premised  by 


208    OBJECTS   TO   BE    GAINED    BY    A   TAX    UPON    ESTATES 

certain  exemptions.  All  estates  of  those  dying  possessed 
of  but  a  moderate  amount  of  wealth,  such  an  amount  as 
would  be  required  as  a  reasonable  provision  for  the  family 
and  dependent  friends  of  the  decedent,  should  be  exempt 
from  tax.  In  making  allowance  for  exemption,  the  con- 
ditions and  needs  of  those  dependent  upon  the  estate 
should  be  considered. 

As  a  sugi,'estion  to  illustrate  the  principle  here  advo- 
cated, the  following  scale  is  presented: 

Estates  valued  at  less  than  $20,000,  to  be  exempt  from 
taxation. 

Estates  valued  at 

$20,000  to      $1 00,000  to  pay  a  10  per  cent  tax 
100,000  to       500,000      "  15     " 

600,000  to     5,000,000      "         20     " 

Over  5,000,000      "  25     "  " 

In  each  case  the  lesser  rates  to  apply  on  the  lesser 
amounts,  and  in  each  case  liberal  provision  for  dependent 
persons  to  be  made,  precedent  to  the  tax. 

Such  a  tax  on  estates,  like  a  tax  on  incomes  will  not, 
as  a  rule,  be  advocated  by  the  wealthy  classes.  Nor  can 
we  expect  the  ordinary  politician  or  party  leader  to  advo- 
cate such  a  measure,  but  rather  to  denounce  it  as  a 
measure  of  state  confiscation,  and  as  being  in  the  direction 
of  communism.  Nevertheless,  the  principle  is  correct 
and  will  find  plenty  of  able  advocates. 


PART  IV. 

AFTERMATH.     RESULTS  AND  LESSONS  OF 

THE  CAMPAIGN  OF  1892.     THE  POLIT- 

ICAL  OUTLOOK 


CHAPTER  XXXV 

A  TIME  FOR  COUNCIL  AND  A  TIME  FOR  WAR,    SOME 

QUESTIONS  SETTLED.    AN  OBSTACLE  REMOVED. 

A  REFORM  THAT  LANGUISHES 

I  intended  to  have  had  this  work  published  before  the 
opening  of  the  political  campaign  of  this  year,  but,  not 
having  sufficient  time  to  give  to  the  matter,  was  dis- 
appointed in  this.  I  hoped  that  my  labors  might,  in  a 
small  way,  help  in  the  canvas  to  further  the  progress  of 
some  needed  reforms. 

But  it  is  perhaps  as  well  for  the  success  of  my  work 
that  the  publication  was  delayed.  During  a  political 
campaign,  the  ordinary  citizen  is  a  partisan.  He"  belongs 
to  "  one  of  the  contending  armies.  He  stands  for  the 
platform  and  the  candidates  of  his  party.  He  does  not 
allow  himself  to  admit  that  there  are  weaknesses  in  the 
position  of  his  party,  or  that  other  parties  have  merits 
which  his  has  not.  He  is  not,  for  the  time,  an  inde- 
pendent thinker,  or  an  unbiased  advocate.  He  does  not, 
for  the  time,  permit  himself  to  assist  any  cause  which  is 
not  in  harmony  with  the  aims  of  his  party,  or  which  may 
jeopardize  its  success. 

There  is  a  small  contingent  of  independent  thinkers 
and   voters  who  are  at  all  times  ready  to  help  a  good 

211 


212    THE  INDEPENDENT  THINKER.    AUSTRALIAN  BALLOT 

cause.  During  a  campaign  this  number  is  reduced  to  a 
minimum,  but  when  the  campaign  is  over,  the  proportion 
of  partisans  decreases,  and  the  ordinary  citizen  is  much 
more  ready  to  listen  to  the  advocates  of  measures  which 
have  been  opposed  or  not  adopted  by  his  party.  During 
the  late  campaign  the  proportion  of  independent  thinkers 
was  much  larger  than  in  the  previous  ones,  and  since  the 
dimensions  of  the  political  landslide  have  become  known 
there  are  great  accessions  to  the  ranks  of  those  who  are 
seekers  after  the  true  and  the  right  way  in  political 
affairs.  So  that  my  opinions  upon  political  problems 
will  doubtless  be  better  received  by  a  majority  of  those 
who  give  them  a  consideration  than  they  would  have 
been  during  the  campaign. 

Besides,  it  affords  opportunity  to  note  the  lessons,  the 
results  and  the  probable  consequences  of  the  campaign  ; 
the  work  already  accomplished  ;  the  obstacles  in  the  way 
of  progress  practically  removed  ;  and  to  consider  the 
prospects  of  questions  and  of  parties  in  the  future. 

Sovie  icorl  accomplished.  One  legislative  reform,  the 
benign  effects  of  which  have  been  apparent  in  nearly 
every  state  of  the  Union,  is  now  an  accomplished  fact. 
The  Australian  ballot  has  come  to  stay.  In  most  cases 
the  reform  is  complete  ;  in  some  cases  correction  is 
needed.  The  adoption  of  this  reform,  against  the  oppo- 
sition of  many  leading  politicians,  marks  an  era  in  the 
progress  of  popular  government.  It  puts  us  a  long  way 
on  the  road  toward  reaching  a  clean  ballot,  and  an  honest, 
economic  and  efficient  conduct  of  public  affairs. 

No  party  is  entitled  to  any  special  credit  for  inaug- 
urating this  reform.  It  was  quite  generally  opposed  by 
the  politicians  and  the  bosses,  but  was  upheld  by   the 


EDUCATIONAL   QUALIFICATIONS    FOR    VOTERS  213 

intelligent,  thinking  masses  The  American  nation  should 
doff  its  hat  to  the  Australian  government  for  this  pro- 
nounced reform  which  it  has  given  us  without  charge  for 
copyright. 

Another  legislative  reform  which  is  of  even  greater 
importance  than  ballot  reform,  and  which  is  now  fairly 
before  the  American  people,  and  which  is  coming  rapidly 
and  coming  to  stay,  is  the  decree  that  intelligence  shall 
rule  throughout  the  land  and  that  ignorance  shall  take  a 
back  seat.  The  people  of  California  voted  almost  unan- 
imously at  the  late  election  in  favor  of  an  educational 
qualification  for  voters  ;  requiring  that  each  voter  shall 
be  able  to  read  and  write  in  the  English  language. 

This  reform  will  relieve  us  of  much  of  the  incubus  of 
ignorance  and  vice  with  which  the  body  politic  is  weighted, 
and  will  make  it  much  easier  to  carry  needed  reforms  by 
appeals  to  the  judgment  and  conscience  of  intelligent 
voters.  The  ignorant,  bigoted,  superstitious,  depraved — 
foreign  or  native  born — black,  brown  or  white,  will  not 
much  longer  hold  a  balance  of  power  which  is  largely 
wielded  in  the  interest  of  a  corrupt  management  of  public 
affairs.  .  The  Australian  ballot  and  the  educational  qual- 
ification for  voters,  together,  will  do  much  to  lift  us  out 
of  the  "slough  of  despond"  in  which  we  have  been  held 
by  the  degrading  influence  and  power  of  ignorant  and 
venal  voters.  They  will  to  a  great  extent  counteract  the 
vicious  influence  of  the  slum  vote. 

And  still  another  legislative  reform  which  has  been 
advocated  for  several  years  by  a  handful  of  reformers, 
the  election  of  United  States  Senators  (and  Presidents, 
as  well,)  by  direct  vote  of  the  people,  in  the  late  campaign 
for  the   first    time    received    substantial    endorsement. 


214  EEMOVAL    OF   THE    TARIFF    ISSUE 

California  pronounced  for  this  reform.  It,  too,  is  comin<; 
and  with  little  opposition.  And  then  millonaires  will 
no  longer  buy  places  in  our  upper  house. 

Also,  during  the  late  canvas  the  question  of  restricting 
undesirable  immigration  received  more  attention  than 
ever  before.  Jt  is  now  fairly  before  the  people  and  will 
be  considered  without  much  delay. 

Not  only  have  we  made  progress  toward  the  adoption 
of  some  of  these  minor  reforms,  but  that  greatest  obsta- 
cle in  the  way  of  success  of  the  greater  political  reforms 
(unless  we  except  party  prejudice) — the  tariff  question, 
which  has  been  the  dominant  issue  in  American  politics 
for  the  past  two  to  three  decades,  monopolizing  the 
attention  of  the  people  almost  to  the  total  exclusion  of  all 
other  questions,  has  at  last  received  its  death  blow  as  an 
issue.  The  campaign  of  1892  will  relieve  the  nation  of 
the  incubus  of  monopoly  tariffs  and  of  the  incubus  of 
the  tariff  question  as  a  monopoly  issue  in  politics,  as 
well. 

This  issue  has  been  as  a  solid  wall,  blocking  the  way 
of  progress.  For  many  years  have  the  advocates  of 
moral  and  economic  reforms  been  hoping  for  the  extinc- 
tion of  this  question  as  an  issue,  and  there  is  great 
rejoicing  all  along  the  line  of  reformers  at  the  good 
prospect  of  its  final  demolition.  Questions  that  are  of 
the  utmost  importance  to  us  will  now  receive  attention. 
We  will  have  new  issues.  Those  who  have  been  blind 
will  be  made  to  see  the  light. 

Oh  1  The  skies  are  brightening.  Dawn  is  near.  And 
the  day  will  see  many  workers  in  the  fields  of  human 
progress,  and  our  labors  will  be  crowned  with  a  goodly 
measure  of  success. 


LITTLE    PROGRESS    IN    CIVIL    SERVICE    REFORM         215 

But  there  is  an  administrative  reform — that  long- 
looked -for,  much-hoped-for,  but  almost-despaired-of 
reform  of  the  civil  service,  in  which  we  have  made  but 
little  progress.  The  great  parties  have  declared  for  it, 
but  their  administrations  have  failed  in  practice  to  give 
it  substantial  recognition.  They  have  encouraged  us 
much,  but  disappointed  us  grievously.  This  reform  lan- 
guishes in  the  house  of  those  who  claim  to  be  its  friends, 
and  it  remains  in  a  feeble  and  drooping  condition. 
Reforms  dependent  upon  administration  appear  to  be 
much  more  difficult  of  consummation  than  are  those 
which  are  mostly  legislative. 

Perhaps  the  incoming  administration  will  gather  some 
inspiration  from 'the  oncoming  host  of  reformers,  and 
will  seek  to  merit  commendation  from  the  people  by 
giving  us  a  much  better  civil  service  than  we  have  before 
seen.  We  may  reasonably  expect  to  see  an  improvement 
in  this  respect  during  the  next  four  years.  But,  whether 
we  be  gratified  by  such  an  advance  or  not,  we  shall  look 
with  confidence  to  the  new  party  which  is  soon  to  be 
marshaled  in  the  cause  of  reform,  and  is  to  assume  the 
management  of  our  public  affairs,  to  give  us  a  genuine 
and  complete  reform  of  our  government  service,  and  to 
entirely  abolish  the  demoralizing  spoils  system  and 
relieve  us  of  the  evil  effects  produced  by  it  upon  our 
government  and  upon  our  political  life. 

The  campaign  of  1892  was  conducted  in  much  better 
form  than  previous  ones.  It  was  more  wholesome,  decent 
and  respectable.  It  was  more  a  campaign  of  education. 
There  was  more  of  genuine  reason  and  argument ;  more 
readiness  to  listen  to  speakers  of  the  opposite  parties  ; 
more  deference  paid  to  the  political  opinions  of  others. 


216  A   CLEAN    CAMPAIGN 

There  was  less  of  personal  mud  slinging  ;  less  of  noise 
and  parade  ;  less  of  cannon,  banners  and  torches.  So 
that,  in  many  respects,  the  late  campaign  was  a  decided 
improvement  over  previous  ones,  and  marked  an  era  of 
better  things  in  politics. 


CHAPTER  XXXVI 

THE  POLITICAL  PARTIES.     THEIR  POLICY  IN  THE 

CAMPAIGN  OF  1892.  REPUBLICAN.  DEMOCRATIC. 

PROHIBITION.    PEOPLES. 

The  Republican  Party  has  now  had  almost  continuous 
control  in  the  councils  of  the  nation  for  nearly  a  genera- 
tion. It  came  into  power  as  the  champion  of  the  cause  of  the 
oppressed.  It  was  formed  for  a  great  purpose,  and  it  was 
the  leader  and  chief  factor  in  accomplishing  a  great  work. 
It  stood  for  human  liberty  and  equality,  and  for  the 
preservation  of  the  Union  of  States.  It  has  been  truly 
a  grand  party,  and  a  party  of  reform.  Its  principles 
have  been  advocated  by  a  long  line  of  illustrious  patriots 
and  statesmen. 

Since  the  completion  of  the  special  work  for  which  the 
Republican  Party  was  organized,  it  has  come  to  be,  more 
than  any  other  party,  the  advocate  and  champion  of 
monopoly,  especially  in  manufacturing,  mining  and 
banking.  In  the  outset  this  was  done  for  what  appeared 
to  be  for  the  best  interests  of  the  country  and  the  masses 
of  the  people,  and  its  policy  was  very  generally  approved. 
But  a  majority  of  the  American  people  have  discovered 


THE    SUBSIDY    PARTY  217 

that  subsidizing  one  class  of  people  at  the  expense  of 
another  class,  and  especially  that  subsidizing  capitalists 
at  the  expense  of  the  common  people,  is  not  a  good  policy 
in  this  or  in  any  other  country.  And  the  party  which 
has  come  to  be  the  subsidy  party  is  no  longer  at  the  front 
in  American  politics. 

The  old  party  has  been  staggering  under  a  load  of 
legislation  in  the  interest  of  monopoly,  and  in  conse- 
quence of  this  load  it  suffered  from  serious  disasters  in 
1890  and  has  met  its  Waterloo  in  1892.  It  must  go  down 
along  with  the  collapse  of  extremely  high  tariffs  and 
other  monopolistic  agencies  which  it  has  fostered.  And 
no  party  will  again  be  so  foolhardy  as  to  take  up  the 
load  which  has  broken  the  back  of  the  grand  old  party. 

Democratic  Party.  The  Democratic  Party  had  been 
for  many  years  the  conservative  party  in  American 
politics,  uniformly  opposing  innovations  and  reforms. 
Its  character  in  this  respect  had  been  well  established. 
But  when  the  Republican  Party  changed  its  attitude, 
from  having  been  the  exponent  of  true  democracy,  to 
being  the  champion  of  monopoly  and  plutocracy,  the 
Democratic  party,  as  opposing  high  tariffs  and  other 
methods  of  subsidy,  came  to  be,  for  the  time,  a  reform 
party — the  champion  of  a  much  needed  reform  of  the 
tariff.  And  the  Democratic  Party  has  in  the  main  been 
gaining  the  ground  and  the  prestige  which  has  been  lost 
by  the  Republican  Party. 

And  so  the  Democratic  Party  in  1892  has  swept  the 
field  and  gone  into  power  with  a  strong  majority  over  all, 
and  will  have  full  sway  in  the  national  and  in  the  majority 
of  state  governments.  This  Democratic  avalanche  does 
not  mean  that  the  party  has  undertaken  to  champion 


218         WHAT  ABOUT  THE  AVALANCHE  ? 

any  new  reforms,  or  that  its  policy,  excepting  upon  the 
one  issue  along  which  the  great  mass  of  forces  was  aligned 
in  the  campaign  of  1892,  is  approved  by  a  majority  of 
the  American  people. 

The  great  Democratic  victory  of  1892  means  that  there 
was  wide  dissatisfaction  with  the  existing  monopolistic 
order  of  things,  for  which  the  Republican  Party  was  held 
largely  responsible,  and  that  the  Democratic  Party  was 
used,  for  the  time,  as  presumably  the  most  available 
agency  for  expressing  that  dissatisfaction.  It  stands  as 
the  verdict  of  the  American  people  against  extremely 
high  tariffs,  and  against  a  force  bill,  extreme  pension 
measures,  and  a  "  federal  brigade  "  in  politics,  as  well. 

It  does  not  mean  that  a  majority  of  the  people  have 
joined  their  political  fortunes  with  the  Democratic  Party 
simply  because  they  are  dissatisfied  with  the  Republican 
regime,  and  agree,  in  the  main,  with  Democratic  ideas  of 
tariff  reform.  Happily,  the  tariff  question  has  been 
"  fought  to  a  finish,''  and  will  not  again  be  an  issue  in 
American  politics.  And  the  great  body  of  intelligent 
voters  who  have  heretofore  been  held  in  Republican  or 
Democratic  camps  by  this  minor  question  as  a  forced 
issue,  will  now  be  ready  to  undertake  the  cause  of  more 
important  reforms. 

The  Democratic  Party  has  been  and  still  is  the  con- 
servative party  of  this  country,  but,  as  opposing  the 
extremely  high  tariffs  enacted  by  the  Republican  Party, 
it  is  in  that  respect  the  reform  party.  The  reform  ele- 
ments are  unitedly  opposed  to  a  high  tariff  policy,  and 
very  many  of  these  voted  a  Democratic  ticket  in  1892  to 
help  give  that  policy  its  deathblow.  But,  this  issue  aside, 
the  Democratic  Party  will  again  assume  its  normal  posi- 


THE    ANTI-SUMPTUARY    PARTY  219 

tion  as  the  great  conservative  party, and  in  a  new  organ- 
ization of  political  forces,  all  opponents  of  reforms  will 
there  find  a  congenial  political  home. 

The  Democratic  Party  being  also  the  pronounced 
opponent  of  all  "  sumptuary  "  laws,  and  the  tried  friend 
of  the  saloon,  in  a  new  political  alignment  prohibition- 
ists from  both  old  parties  must  join  the  party  of  reform, 
and  the  saloon  forces  will  go  to  the  Democratic  Party. 
And  so  we  may  expect  to  see  this  old  conservative  and 
anti-sumptuary  party  remain  in  the  field  and  gather  in 
all  the  opponents  of  economic  and  of  moral  reforms. 

The  Prohibition  Party.  The  force  of  the  Prohibition 
Party  as  a  factor  in  politics  is  not  to  be  measured  by  its 
numbers.  Prohibitionists  are,  as  a  rule,  more  zealous 
and  active  in  propagating  their  principles  than  are  the 
members  of  the  old  parties.  The  number  of  those  who  favor 
prohibition  far  exceeds  the  number  of  those  who  adhere  to 
the  party,  and  there  is  a  large  number  outside  the  party 
who  wish  it  success.  Many  thousands  of  Democrats  and 
Republicans  would  have  joined  the  Prohibition  Party 
but  for  the  strength  ot  old  party  prejudice  and  affiliation. 

Members  of  the  Prohibition  Party  in  all  states  where 
it  is  well  organized  are  the  principal  advocates  of  pro- 
hibition, and  are  leaders  in  all  prohibition  contests  and 
in  all  other  moral  contests,  as  well.  In  the  intelligence, 
sobriety  and  moral  standing  of  its  membership,  the  Pro- 
hibition Party  holds  first  place. 

As  a  moral  force  in  politics  the  Prohibition  Party  has  no 
competitor  ;  it  is  tJu  only  party  with  a  moral  issue.  It  is  the 
only  party  which  openly  opposes  that  great  political  crime 
— license  of  the  liquor  traffic,  and  the  only  party  which 
stands  unequivocally  for  equal  political  rights  for  women. 


220  DEFECTS    OF   THE    PROHIBITION    PARTY 

The  Prohibition  Party,  as  now  constituted,  has  two 
serious  defects  ;  1.  Its  platform  is  too  narrow  on  its  main 
question,  and,  2.  It  assumes  a  religious  character.  This 
party  is  the  special  champion  of  prohibition  of  the 
liquor  traffic,  yet,  according  to  its  platform,  it  is  only 
ready  to  work  for  this  when  it  can  be  done  by  states  or 
by  the  nation.  And  many  advocates  of  the  principles  of 
the  party  contend  that  "  local  option  '^  is  a  sirare  and  a 
device  of  the  enemy,  that  it  is  not  effective  or  satisfactory, 
that  it  "  relieves  the  consciences  of  voters  "  and  keeps 
them  from  working  for  the  larger  measure  of  reform, 
and  that  to  work  for  such  a  half-way  measure  is  to  com- 
promise with  evil. 

We  have  a  large  area  of  territory  under  absolute  and 
well  enforced  prohibition  through  local  laws.  True 
prohibitionists,  everywhere,  are  ready  to  work  for  pro- 
hibition in  any  contest  that  is  on,  whether  in  a  town,  a 
county  or  a  state.  In  California,  since  Pasadena  has 
established  the  right  of  local  prohibition  under  the  state 
constitution,  members  of  the  Prohibition  Party  have 
been  active  in  many  localities  of  the  state  in  working 
for  prohibition  by  towns  and  by  counties,  and  a  large 
area  has  been  brought  under  prohibition,  and  no  one 
would  think  of  undertaking  a  contest  for  state  prohibition 
until  a  much  larger  proportion  of  the  people  have  declared 
for  the  principle  in  a  local  way.  Several  of  the  states, 
as  Massachusetts  and  Mississippi,  have  adopted  a  policy 
of  local  prohibition,  with  a  steadily  increasing  area 
voting  ^'  dry."  Several  cities  of  Massachusetts  made  a 
decided  advance  for  the  prohibition  cause  in  the  late 
election,  even  Boston  coming  within  a  few  hundred 
votes  of  pronouncing  for  prohibition. 


.  -"^  \_  \  B  K  A  y: 

OF  TRR 

THE  DIVIDING  LINE  ON  THE  SALOON  ISSUE  IN  POLITICS   2?j^^VT'^^ 

The  dividing  line  beiiveen  the  contending  forces  on  the 
liquor  traffic  question  falls  between  license  and  prohibition^ 
and  a  political  party  which  opposes  license  should  stand 
for  prohibition,  anywhere  and  everywhere,  and  always 
be  ready  for  a  contest  where  there  is  a  reasonable  pros- 
pect of  success.  The  platform  of  a  Prohibition  Party 
should  be  in  accord  with  the  action  of  the  great  body  of 
Prohibitionists  throughout  the  country,  on  the  question 
of  prohibition.  The  old  parties,  as  a  rule,  declare  for 
license.  The  Prohibition  Party  should  have  room  for  all 
who  oppose  license  :  it  should  stand  for  prohibition  by 
towns  and  by  counties,  by  states  whenever  it  can  be  com- 
passed, and  by  the  nation  wherever  it  holds  jurisdiction 
in  local  affairs. 

Most  of  the  work  for  temperance,  as  for  other  moral 
reforms  in  this  country  has  been  led  by  religious  bodies 
or  under  religious  auspices.  Probably  a  majority  of 
prohibition  workers  are  church  members.  It  is  therefore 
not  strange  that  prohibition  meetings  have  been  usually 
conducted  with  religious  exercises. 

But  we  should  remember  that  we  are  proud  to  claim 
our  land  as  the  home  of  religious  as  well  as  of  civil 
liberty,  and  we  should  remember  that  our  nation  does 
not  guarantee  religious  liberty  to  Christians  only.  The 
Puritans  sought  "  the  wild  New  England  shores "  to 
secure  for  themselves  the  blessing  of  religious  liberty, 
yet  denied  that  privilege  to  others,  and  we  have  many 
good  people  to-day  who,  in  their  zeal  for  what  they  deem 
proper  religious  observance,  ignore  the  rights  of  those 
who  hold  other  religious  views. 

Temperance  or  other  moral  reform  work  in  a  social 
way  may  be  properly  and  laudably  carried  on  with  an 


222  MUST    BE    ROOM    FOR    PAGANS    AND   JEWS 

observance  of  religious  forms  or  ceremonies.  But  a 
political  party  in  this  country  in  order  to  be  in  harmony 
with  our  free  institutions,  and  to  deserve  success,  must 
have  room  on  its  platform  and  in  its  councils  for  Jews, 
Infidels,  Pagans  and  Christians. 

The  National  Prohibition  Convention  of  1892  made  a 
serious  mistake  in  declaring  for  a  pronounced  free  trade 
policy.  A  sudden  change  of  policy  on  the  tariff  question 
from  our  present  extremely  high  tariffs  to  the  other 
extreme  of  free  trade  would  be  a  very  unwise  course  for 
the  nation  to  adopt.  Happily,  we  are  not  at  all  likely  to 
have  such  a  wide  change  in  tariff  legislation  in  the  imme- 
diate future. 

The  PeopWs  Party.  The  People's  Party  is  the  leader  of 
the  new  sociological  movement  in  American  politics.  In 
some  states  it  has  shattered  the  monopolistic  forces,  and 
is  in  a  fair  way  to  go  in  and  possess  the  land.  It 
has  achieved  a  phenomenal  success  for  a  new  party.  It 
has  sent  its  representatives  to  state  capitals  and  to  the 
Halls  of  Congress.  The  "  voice  of  the  people  "  is  to  be 
heard  in  the  councils  of  the  nation.  It  stands  as  the 
avowed  exponent  and  champion  of  economic  reforms. 
In  the  late  campaign  it  was  the  only  party  which  stood, 
unequivocally,  for  the  great  principle  of  national  owner- 
ship of  railway  and  telegraph  lines,  and  it  has  accom- 
plished much  in  educating  the  people  on  this  question. 
As  the  maker  of  the  reform  party  of  the  future  it  holds  a 
leading  place. 

Still,  the  People's  Party  is  but  a  forerunner — but  a 
"  John  the  Baptist,"  of  the  reform  party  that  is  to  be. 
In  some  respects  it  is  unwise  and  extreme,  and  in  some 
it  is,  unwittingly,  untrue  to  its  position  as  the  avowed 


MISTAKES    OF   THE   PEOPLES   PARTY  ZZd 

opponent  of  monopoly.  The  demands  expressed  by  some 
of  its  leaders  for  "transportation  at  cost''  and  "  money 
at  cost,"  sounds  communistic.  But  it  is  common  for 
leaders  of  reform  to  take  radical  grounds,  and  we  should 
probably  take  such  expressions  as  meaning  that  the 
people  want,  and  intend  to  have,  transportation,  and 
money,  and  clothing,  and  tools,  and  the  necessaries 
of  life,  at  living  rates,  and  that  the  era  of  exorbitant 
charges  is  near  its  end. 

The  People's  Party  in  the  campaign  of  1892  made  two 
rather  serious  mistakes,  1,  it  did  not  give  the  great  ques- 
tion of  economic  reform — government  ownership — the 
leading  place  in  its  platform  or  in  its  canvas,  and,  2,  it 
made  its  fight  mainly  on  a  demand  for  cheaper  money,  to 
be  secured  by  loans  from  the  government  at  two  per  cent, 
and  by  the  free  and  unlimited  coinage  of  silver. 

Nearly  all  things  that  are  worthy  of  consideration  in 
questions  of  financial  reform  are  embodied  in  the  great 
principle  of  national  ownership  of  all  great  monopolies — 
of  money  as  well  as  of  transportation.  Money  cannot 
be  loaned  at  two  per  cent,  and  free  coinage  of  silver  is  a 
device  of  the  enemy — a  scheme  of  monopolists.  Questions 
of  methods  and  rates  of  loans,  and  of  plans  for  an  increase 
of  currency,  are  but  questions  of  ways  and  means  in 
carrying  on  a  great  service,  and  these  do  not  involve  the 
main  principle  which  is,  or  should  be,  the  ground  of  our 
contention. 

And,  while  it  is  probably  true  that  these  financial 
questions,  as  presented,  were  drawing  cards  for  the  People's 
Party  in  the  late  campaign,  yet  they  are  comparatively 
secondary  and  transitory,  and  the  silver  question  is  very 
largely  one  of  local  self-interest.     The  inducement  which 


224  SILVER   BARONS   AND    IRON    KINGS 

carried  Colorado  for  the  People's  Party  in  1892,  was  the 
same  in  character  as  that  which  has  been  the  chief  induce- 
ment to  keep  Pennsylvania  in  the  Republican  column — 
the  self-interest  of  silver  producers  in  the  one  case,  and  of 
iron  producers  in  the  other.  And  the  American  people 
can  no  more  be  depended  on  to  stand  for  the  financial 
aggrandizement  of  silver  barons,  than  of  iron  kings,  at 
their  own  cost.     Not  when  they  know  it. 

Notwithstanding,  the  People's  Party  contains  a  large 
part  of  the  leaven  which  shall  leaven  the  whole  lump, 
and  form  the  great,  new  party  of  the  future. 


CHAPTER  XXXVII 

A  NEW  POLITICAL  PARTY,    NECESSITY  FOR  IT. 

WHA  T  IT  SHOULD  STAND  FOR.    QUESTIONS 

THAT  ARE  URGENT. 

The  coming  party  should  be  built  mainly  on  the  great 
coming  issue — State  co-operation — national,  state  and 
municipal  ownership  of  the  great  monopolies.  The 
reforms  demanded  in  transportation,  communication 
currency,  land,  are  all  comprehended  under  this  princi- 
ple. It  comprises  the  sum  and  substance  of  the  sociolog- 
ical movement  in  politics.  It  is  the  economic  question 
of  the  day,  and  it  can  almost  be  said  that  there  is  no 
other.  This  is  the  distinctive  feature  of  the  new  politics 
as  contrasted  with  the  old. 

State  ownership  is  the  remedy  for  burdensome  taxes, 
for  exorbitant  charges,  for  labor  troubles,  for  strikes  and 
lockouts,  for  monopolies  and  trusts.  It  would  bring 
work  to  idle  hands  and  food  to  hungry  mouths.  The 
great  upheaval  in  our  political  life,  the  great  cry  for 
economic  reform,  means  just  this.  Nothing  less  will 
satisfy  the  demand.  Nothing  else  will  bring  the  relief. 
It  is  to  be  the  issue,  and  it  is  to  remain  as  such  until  this 
reform  becomes  an  established  principle  of  our  national 
life. 

The  one  other  great  question  is  the  moral  one — pro- 
hibition of  saloons,  lotteries,  gambling  dens,  brothels. 
The  success  and  perpetuity  of  modern  civilization  depends 

225 


226  AN   ECONOMIC   AND   A   MORAL   ISSUE 

upon  the  promotion  of  intelligence  and  virtue  and  upon 
the  suppression  of  vice;  and  it  is  a  chief  duty  of  the 
state  to  foster  the  one  and  to  suppress  the  other.  For 
the  state  to  sanction  and  legalize  schools  of  vice,  and  thus 
to  be  itself  the  promoter  of  crime,  is  a  paradox  in  gov- 
ernment and  a  perversion  of  every  right  principle  of 
law.  There  can  be  no  darker  political  crime  than  for 
the  state  to  license  vice  and  thus  to  encourage  and  foster 
crime.  Not  many  decades  can  pass  until  our  people  will 
look  back  upon  this  dark  age  in  wonderment  that  it  was 
possible  for  good,  well  meaning  people,  to  uphold  such  a 
crime  by  voice  or  by  vote. 

The  moral  reform  is  of  no  less  importance  than  the 
economic  one,  nor  does  it  hold  any  second  place 
in  the  minds  and  hearts  of  a  majority  of  our  people. 
But  there  are  potent  reasons  why,  as  a  political  issue, 
the  economic  question  will  come  to  the  front.  It  will  do 
so  as  a  part  of  the  inevitable  logic  of  political  events. 

The  moral  reform  is  not  new,  nor  untried.  The  prin- 
ciple of  prohibition  as  the  only  adequate  remedy  for  vice, 
is  fully  established  in  the  minds  of  h  very  large  number 
of  our  people.  The  reform  has  become  in  many  instances 
a  part  of  our  statute  or  organic  code,  and  the  results  of 
these  laws  as  promotive  of  good  order  and  good  citizen- 
ship are  among  the  things  of  our  written  history. 

In  Maine,  Iowa,  Kansas,  Vermont,  Massachusetts, 
Mississippi,  the  Carolinas  and  Dakotas,  and  in  other 
states,  the  principle  of  prohibition  is  established  as  the 
law  of  the  land  and  is  growing  in  favor  with  the  people. 
This  reform  is  steadily  advancing  and  will  not  go  back- 
ward. For  a  generation  have  philanthropists  been  zeal- 
ously laboring  to  establish  this  reform.     Every  argument 


AN    OLD    AND    A   NEW    QUESTION  227 

has  been  used.  The  people  are  familiar  with  every  phase 
of  the  question.  And  now  that  these  efforts  have  been 
crowned  with  so  large  a  measure  of  success,  we  may- 
well  afford  to  give  a  considerable  part  of  our  time  to  the 
establishing  of  the  principles  of  economic  reform.  This 
harvest,  too,  is  great,  and  the  laborers  are  few.  Nor  need 
we  lessen  our  zeal  for  the  one  while  we  undertake  the 
other. 

The  great  economic  question  is  of  first  importance 
because  it  also  vitally  concerns  the  comfort,  the  well 
being,  the  happiness,  the  health  and  the  life  of  millions 
of  our  people  ;  because  it  more  directly  appeals  to  the 
masses,  who  are  in  sore  need  through  no  fault  of  their 
own,  than  does  any  other  question  ;  because  it  is  for  these 
masses  more  directly  a  question  of  bread  and  of  meat, 
of  clothing  and  of  shelter,  than  is  any  other  ;  and  because, 
tvhile  it  is  a  reform  most  urgently  demanded,  it  has  as  yet 
received  but  a  very  small  comparative  measure  of  attention 
from  our  people. 

While  we  have  been  contending  over  tariffs,  high  or 
low  ;  while  we  have  been  fostering  corporate  monopolies 
and  most  graciously  submitting  to  their  exactions  ;  while 
we  have  been  nursing  sectional  prejudice,  and  submitting 
to  boss  rule  ;  we  have  been  blind,  deaf  and  dumb  ;  we 
have  been  densely  ignorant  and  foolishly  oblivious  of  the 
importance  of  these  great  economic  reforms.  We  had 
but  to  look  to  England,  and  to  Austria,  and  to  Germany 
— those  "  effete  monarchies  " — to  have  learned  lessons  in 
state  co-oper.ation,  and  to  see  the  advantages  of  state 
railways  and  state  telegraphs. 

Regarding  the  expediency  of  a  national  party  espous- 
ing the  prohibition  cause,  there  are  two  principal  factors 


228  EXTENT    OF    PROHIBITION    SENTIMENT 

to  be  considered  :  1.  There  is  a  large  proportion,  perhaps 
a  majority,  of  our  people,  who  favor  the  principle  of  pro- 
hibition and  are  committed  to  the  reform,  and  this  pro- 
portion is  constantly  growing.  Reforms  do  not  go 
backward.  And  to  stand  for  the  'princiijle  of  prohibition, 
would  be  an  element  of  strength  and  not  of  weakness  to 
a  new  party  which  was  sound  on  other  questions. 

2.  The  church  people  are  almost  a  unit  for  the  prin- 
ciple of  prohibition.  Nearly  all  of  the  conventions  of 
the  religious  bodies  have  pronounced  unequivocally  in 
opposition  to  license  and  in  favor  of  prohibition.  It  is 
true  that  thus  far  but  a  minority  of  church  membership 
have  shaped  their  political  course  in  accordance  with 
church  edicts.  But  we  must  make  large  allowance  for 
the  alleged  importance  of  that  most  wonderful  tariff 
question,  and  for  the  strength  of  party  prejudice.  We 
may  reasonably  hope  that  the  political  revolution  of  1892 
will  release  some  millions  of  church  members  from  the 
strong  bonds  of  the  tariff  issue  and  of  party  prejudice, 
and  that  the  great  body  of  church  members  will  be  able 
in  the  near  future  to  clearly  see  the  plain  duty  which 
lies  before  them  as  Christian  citizens  in  regard  to  the 
saloon  evil. 

The  statesman,  in  considering  the  future  of  political 
parties,  should  understand  that  church  people  are  bound, 
sooner  or  later,  to  stand  as  a  solid  body  with  the  political 
party  which  openly  opposes  the  saloon  and  its  kindred 
evils.  There  can  be  no  mistake  about  this.  The  church 
and  the  saloon  are  deadly  enemies,  and  no  man  or  woman 
can  long  hold  a  place  in  the  ranks  of  the  one  while  giv- 
ing aid  and  comfort  to  the  other.  It  cannot  possibly  be 
otherwise.     The  church  is  the  leading  agency  in  promot- 


THE    MORAL    FORCE    IN    POLITICS  229 

ing  moral  reforms;  and  its  members  can  occupy  no 
equivocal  or  double  position  toward  this  greatest  of  all 
evils,  this  chief  promoter  of  vice.  And  the  politician 
who  plans  a  new  political  party  which  has  no  ground 
upon  which  a  Christian  or  Jew  can  consistently  stand, 
surely  "  reckons  without  his  host." 

The  Democratic  Party  will  stand  as  it  has  stood  as  the 
friend  and  protector  of  the  saloon  and  the  brothel,  as 
"  opposed  to  all  sumptuary  laws  which  vex  the  citizen," 
and  as  in  favor  of  the  fullest  license  for  the  gratification 
of  appetite  and  passion.  And  the  new  party  must  stand, 
not  only  for  state  monopoly  as  opposed  to  private  or  cor- 
porate monopoly,  but  also  for  the  suppression  of  saloons, 
brothels  and  gambling  dens. 

There  is  but  one  other  great  question.  It  is  a  question 
of  human  equality — of  human  rights  and  privileges.  It 
is  the  question  whether  one-half  of  the  people — one-half 
of  the  thinkers  and  toilers — shall  continue  to  enact  the 
laws  and  conduct  the  government,  regardless  of  the 
voice,  the  needs,  the  rights,  of  the  other  half.  It  is  the 
question  whether  woman  shall  have  those  political  and 
civil  privileges  which  of  right  belong  to  her  and  have 
been  so  long  withheld.  It  is  a  matter  of  simple  justice, 
and  also  a  necessity  for  the  promotion  of  good  morals 
and  of  good  government. 

The  People's  Party,  in  some  states,  has  declared  for 
equal  suffrage,  and  as  a  national  party  it  can  illy  afford 
to  deny  the  right  of  woman  to  an  equal  voice  in  state 
affairs,  inasmuch  as  the  party  very  largely  owes  its  suc- 
cess to  the  labors  and  the  influence  of  women.  The 
Prohibition  Party,  and  nearly  all  prohibitionists,  are  in 
full  accord  with  this  reform.     The  Knights  of  Labor,  and 


230  THE   QUESTION    OF    HUMAN    EQUALITY 

most  other  industrial  organizations,  are  in  favor  of  polit- 
ical equality  without  regard  to  sex.  The  best  citizens  of 
all  parties  are  coming  to  recognize  the  importance  of 
woman  as  a  factor  in  politics,  and  the  injustice  of  deny- 
ing political  rights  to  her. 

The  sentiment  in  favor  of  granting  political  equality 
to  woman  is  constantly  growing  among  the  people,  sev- 
eral states  have,  in  whole  or  in  part,  extended  to  her  the 
right  of  franchise,  and  a  reform  party  which  ignores  this 
reform,  is  behind  the  age.  It  is  not  "  keeping  up  with 
the  procession." 

There  are  three  great  political  problems  ;  the  economic, 
the  moral,  and  that  of  human  equality.  All  other  ques- 
tions are  secondary,  and  follow,  in  principle,  as  the  inev- 
itable sequence  of  these.  The  most  of  them  are  already 
either  endorsed  by  a  large  proportion  of  the  people,  or 
are  being  advocated  with  a  steadily  growing  sentiment  in 
their  favor,  and  with  little  opposition. 

The  three  are  the  ones  ivhich  need  the  attention,  the  thought, 
the  zeal,  the  labors,  the  force,  of  a  combined  army  of  intelli- 
gent, earnest  patriots. 


THE   END. 


^ 


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